Hyderabad: Cyclone Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts on Wednesday morning near latitude 16.450 N and 81.90 E - about 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur, 40 km southwest of Yanam and 60 km southwest of Kakinada - with peak winds of 135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph, before weakening into a severe cyclonic storm. The India Meteorological Department said the landfall process was complete and the system now lies entirely over land.
Two people have died of electrocution. A 53-year-old man died on Tuesday night after coming into contact with a live wire that snapped over an agricultural field channel in Visakhapatnam district, a senior district official said. In the second incident, a 55-year-old woman died after accidentally stepping on an exposed live wire outside her home in Yellamanchili town of Anakapalli district on Wednesday morning, police said. Neither has been named.
Those two deaths sit awkwardly against the state government's public line. In an official release on Wednesday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said "no loss of life has been reported so far due to Cyclone Arnab" and credited advance precautionary measures with preventing casualties. On officials' own account, the Visakhapatnam death had occurred the previous night. District police in Kakinada, Alluri Sitaramaraju and Konaseema separately said no casualties had been reported in their jurisdictions as of Wednesday morning.
The damage picture, district by district, as reported by the police:
- Konaseema, among the worst hit: winds of up to 130 kmph uprooted trees and electric poles across the district late on Tuesday night, blocking roads and disrupting power. National highways were expected to be cleared within two to three hours, interior roads by evening. More than 10,000 people had been evacuated to shelters, and around 495 cyclone shelters and relief centres had been opened.
- Kakinada: a few hundred trees and fewer than 100 electric poles uprooted; rainfall eased after 1 am. The Uppada road running along the coast has been completely washed away.
- Alluri Sitaramaraju: trees and poles down and some roads inundated. An old bridge at Tadiguda village in Anantagiri mandal was washed away, isolating a hamlet, with alternative arrangements being made.
- Deployment: two NDRF and two SDRF teams were positioned a day before landfall for road clearance and rescue, along with additional Andhra Pradesh Special Police platoons; the energy department has mobilised 6,000 personnel to restore supply once winds drop.
Across the border, Odisha has evacuated more than 30,000 people from its southern districts, and Jharkhand has shut schools in Ranchi and West Singhbhum till October 29.
Still missing from the official record: a consolidated damage and evacuation figure for Andhra Pradesh, preliminary crop loss estimates that the Chief Minister has ordered, and an assessment of flood risk in Odisha's Malkangiri and Koraput districts overnight.
Also Read: Cyclone Arnab crosses Andhra coast, weakens into a severe cyclonic storm | No loss of life in Andhra from Cyclone Arnab, says Chief Minister Naidu | Odisha evacuates over 30,000 as Cyclone Arnab moves inland
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)