Cyclone Arnab makes landfall in Andhra Pradesh after more than 180,000 people evacuate

Arnab came ashore on Wednesday morning, and the coast it hit was mostly empty.

The India Meteorological Department classified Arnab as a very severe cyclonic storm, the third highest category on its scale, with sustained winds of 125 to 135 kilometers an hour and gusts reaching 150 as the center crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast and moved fully inland. The department forecast a storm surge of 1 to 1.5 meters above normal tide in low lying areas. Authorities had moved more than 180,000 people out of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha before the storm arrived, into more than 2,000 shelters across 20 districts, as of October 28. Fishermen had been told to stay off the sea, and more than 30,000 fishing boats were secured along the coast. Operations at three Andhra Pradesh airports were suspended, trains and flights were cancelled, and schools in the path of the storm were closed.

Reuters reported no loss of life in either state by Wednesday, with power supplies disrupted, electricity poles uprooted and trees down across highways, where crews in rain gear were clearing branches so traffic could move. Local live coverage in India reported two people dead by electrocution in separate incidents in Andhra Pradesh. The counts had not been reconciled in the reporting available on Wednesday. In Kakinada district, a resident who gave her name as Nagi described water entering homes without warning. Trees have fallen, houses have been damaged, and all our belongings, including our books, have been destroyed, she said.

The evacuation is the part of the story India has spent decades building. Cyclones on this coast killed thousands in living memory. The state now moves people first and counts damage second, with alerts sent to millions of mobile phones and nearly 1,100 medical teams deployed in the districts in the storm path, where more than 12 million people live. The weather department warned of damage to crops, thatched houses and communication lines as Arnab weakens inland, and heavy rain alerts run in Odisha and parts of West Bengal through October 31.