Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are moving hundreds of thousands of people out of harm’s way as Cyclone Arnab approaches its expected landfall on Wednesday morning. Andhra Pradesh identified around 570,000 people in high risk coastal and low lying areas for evacuation, with the process scheduled to begin on Monday evening, and the state stationed 15 National Disaster Response Force teams and released 27 crore rupees for relief work. Odisha, which expects heavy rain and strong winds even though landfall is forecast in Andhra Pradesh, has prepared more than 1,700 cyclone shelters, deployed around 60 state disaster response teams and 17 national teams, and placed 225 fire service teams on high alert. The India Meteorological Department forecasts landfall near Yanam, between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, with steady winds of 115 to 125 kilometres per hour and gusts up to 140.
Shelters, schools and the surge
The evacuation is the visible part of a larger operation. In Visakhapatnam district, officials identified 37 villages across 11 mandals as potentially affected and arranged 54 relief camps. In Odisha, 100 cyclone shelters are ready in Ganjam district alone, with 1,000 temporary sites identified, and schools, colleges and childcare centres in Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri will close on October 28 and 29. Authorities have warned of possible inundation in low lying areas near Kakinada and Yanam from a storm surge, and forecasters expect heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across several coastal districts, raising the risk of flooding and disruption to road and rail services, fishing and essential services. Power utilities are on high alert, fishing at sea is banned, and tourists have been barred from hills, waterfalls and dams in six southern Odisha districts.
The zero casualty goal
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the state would take no chances and reiterated a zero casualty goal, sending eight ministers to vulnerable districts and cancelling leave for district collectors and other key officials. That goal is ambitious for a storm of this strength, and it depends on the least dramatic part of disaster management: people actually leaving when told to leave, shelters having food, water and medical support, and communications staying open when power lines fall. The Cyclone Arnab storm report notes that Arnab is the first cyclone to develop over the Bay of Bengal in 2026, which means many coastal residents have not faced a storm like this in months. If the evacuations hold and the shelters work, Wednesday’s landfall will be remembered as a storm that was prepared for. If they do not, the same forecast will read very differently by Thursday morning.
