Cyclone Arnab has crossed the coast, but its story is not over. By 1130 IST on Wednesday, the storm had weakened from a very severe cyclonic storm to a severe cyclonic storm, moving with winds of 100 to 110 kilometres per hour and gusts to 120, and forecasters expected it to weaken further into a cyclonic storm within three hours and then into a deep depression in the following six hours. That weakening is good news for the coast, but it shifts the risk inland, where heavy to very heavy rainfall was projected across Andhra Pradesh, southern Odisha, Telangana and potentially Chhattisgarh through Thursday and beyond.
The landfall itself lasted from 0200 IST to 0800 IST on October 28, as the storm crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to the south of Yanam, with sustained winds of 125 to 135 kilometres per hour and gusts reaching 150. A storm surge of 1.5 to 2.5 metres above normal tide was expected to inundate low lying areas over the six hours following landfall. Trees were uprooted, power was disrupted, and outer rain bands lashed coastal Odisha districts including Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Bhadrak, Khurda and Balasore before the eye crossed land.
Red alerts inland
The India Meteorological Department issued red alerts for extremely heavy rainfall across Andhra Pradesh and for several Odisha districts, including Anugul, Balangir, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jajapur and Nabarangpur, with heavy rain warnings extended to Telangana and Jharkhand. Inland flooding is often the deadliest phase of a weakening cyclone, because rivers rise after the wind has dropped, roads that survived the storm can be cut by water, and people who stayed safe through landfall may try to return home too early. Officials urged residents to follow safety advice, and that advice matters most in the hours when the storm looks less frightening than it is.
Transport disruption will linger even as the wind eases. Railways cancelled or rescheduled more than 90 services across October 27 to 29 on routes serving Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Odisha junctions, while flights were disrupted at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Rajahmundry, with Delhi to Bhogapuram services cancelled for the day. Passengers were advised to check live status before travelling, and the pattern of cancellations, rescheduling and short terminations is likely to continue until tracks are inspected and airports confirm safe operations.
From wind to water
Reports of the landfall recorded the wind speeds and the surge warning, and Globe Media Times’ account of Yanam’s position explained why one small town mattered so much to the forecast. The next phase of Arnab’s story is written in rainfall totals, river levels and the speed of power restoration, not in wind gusts. Early reports said no deaths had been reported, and keeping that record intact through the inland phase will depend on the same discipline that marked the evacuation: move early, stay put until the all clear, and treat receding wind as a change of risk, not an end to it.
