Cyclone Arnab completed its crossing of the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts by 10:30 p.m. ET Tuesday (02:30 UTC Wednesday), as Manorama Mohanty, director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Bhubaneswar, warned of heavy rain in six Odisha districts.
The IMD said the storm crossed in the six hours ending at 10:30 p.m. ET Tuesday (02:30 UTC Wednesday). Sustained winds reached 125–135 km/h, with gusts up to 150 km/h, the agency said.
In an ANI interview carried by Public TV, Mohanty named Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur as districts under a red warning. She said heavy to very heavy rain was very likely in a few places, with isolated extremely heavy rain also possible. Winds could reach 60–70 km/h in some districts, with gusts of 80–85 km/h. Mohanty also said fishermen had been advised to avoid going to sea through Oct. 29.
A PTI report carried by Moneycontrol named Kalahandi instead of Ganjam in its six-district list.
In an update at 11 p.m. ET Tuesday (03:00 UTC Wednesday), the IMD placed Arnab over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and nearby waters in the west-central Bay of Bengal, classifying it as a severe cyclonic storm. The agency expected it to move north-northwest over the next 48 hours and weaken first into a cyclonic storm, then a deep depression. Its Odisha outlook called for extremely heavy rain on Oct. 28 and very heavy rain on Oct. 29.
EconoTimes previously covered flooding along India’s east coast during Arnab’s landfall.
