NASA cites India’s weather agency for Arnab’s landfall winds and news reports for flooded homes and crops. Weather officials advise fishermen in Odisha to stay ashore through October 29.
Indian authorities evacuated vulnerable coastal residents before Cyclone Arnab struck the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coast early on October 28 with sustained winds of 130 km/h. NASA gave the wind speed in its October 29 account, citing the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The storm crossed between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, a heavily settled stretch of cities, farmland and fishing communities.
Officials said at least three people died as winds and torrential rain hit India’s southeastern coast, Al Jazeera said on October 29.
NASA cited an October 28 Indian Express account that put the number moved to shelters at more than 84,000. NASA also cited news accounts of uprooted trees, flooded homes and crops, restricted fishing, and disrupted electricity and transport networks. Those damage accounts did not come from the earlier satellite image.
IMD said Arnab weakened into a “deep depression”, a weaker storm category, during the afternoon of October 28. The agency said parts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha recorded as much as 30 centimetres of rain.
Arnab formed in the Bay of Bengal on October 25. The NOAA-20 satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), an imaging instrument, captured the nighttime image at 20:12 UTC on October 26—1:42 a.m. Indian Standard Time on October 27. IMD put sustained winds at about 140 km/h at that time.
IMD classified Arnab at landfall as a “very severe cyclonic storm”. NASA described that strength as similar to Category 1 on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, which classifies hurricanes by wind speed.
Flooding, power cuts and cancelled transport followed the storm’s October 28 landfall in Andhra Pradesh. India’s weather agency warned that a storm surge could submerge low-lying areas.
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In its October 28 bulletin, quoted by ANI, IMD said the coast crossing lasted from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. Indian Standard Time. The storm’s centre was fully inland by 8 a.m., and Arnab had weakened to a severe cyclonic storm by 8:30 a.m.
IMD’s October 28 morning bulletin forecast north-northwest movement and gradual weakening over 48 hours. The agency issued a red warning for Odisha’s Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts, forecasting heavy to very heavy rain at a few places and isolated extremely heavy rain.
The Indian Express said fishermen were advised not to venture into the seas along and off the West Bengal and Odisha coasts on October 28–29 because of very rough seas and poor visibility.
