AMARAVATI / BHUBANESWAR: Cyclone ‘Arnab’ made landfall along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts on Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction that claimed three lives, damaged dozens of homes, and triggered massive power blackouts across several coastal districts. Peak surface wind speeds touched 135 kmph, with localized gusts reaching up to 150 kmph, uprooting hundreds of trees and damaging electrical transmission infrastructure.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the landfall process is fully complete, and the cyclonic system has crossed entirely over land. Official bulletins confirmed that the storm crossed the coastline southwest of Yanam near latitude 16.45° N and longitude 81.90° E—approximately 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur, 40 km southwest of Yanam, and 60 km southwest of Kakinada.
Disaster response forces from both the Centre (NDRF) and state governments (SDRF) of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are currently executing relief operations amid forecasts of sustained heavy rainfall across the eastern seaboard. Police forces and civic authorities have prioritized clearing uprooted trees and fallen debris from major arterial roads to reinstate emergency transit routes and restore power grids.
Reviewing the situation during a high-level teleconference with 32,000 field officials and district collectors, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu credited pre-emptive evacuation measures and administrative readiness for preventing larger casualties, while directing response teams to expedite infrastructure repairs in affected districts.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Odisha has braced for impact by deploying 313 specialized response teams and readying 2,037 multi-purpose cyclone shelters as the system moves towards its southern districts. Nearly one lakh people have been evacuated from vulnerable low-lying coastal belts in Odisha. State Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari conducted an emergency review at the State Emergency Operation Centre in Bhubaneswar to supervise safety operations.
The peripheral impact of Cyclone Arnab was also felt across Jharkhand, where capital city Ranchi and surrounding districts witnessed heavy downpours on Wednesday morning, prompting the IMD to issue heavy rainfall alerts across nine districts in the state.
For more details: Navamalayalam.com