Cyclone ‘Arnab’ LIVE updates | Five killed in Andhra; ₹5 lakh ex gratia for families

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Motorists caught unaware as heavy rain and adverse weather conditions triggered by Cyclone Arnab disrupted normal life in Vijayawada on October 28, 2026 | Photo Credit: G.N. Rao

Cyclone Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts about 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur early on Wednesday (October 28, 2026). It has since weakened from a very severe to a severe cyclonic storm, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. It is expected to lose most of its strength by tonight.

Five people have died in cyclone-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said. Their families will get ₹5 lakh each. About 57,000 people have been moved to relief camps, according to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Mr. Naidu has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking a Central team to assess the damage. Paddy on about 70,900 hectares and horticulture crops on 10,450 hectares are under water or damaged, and about 180 houses have been hit, the letter says. 

Power supply to over 25 lakh connections was cut in north and central Andhra. A total of 38 flights have been cancelled at the Visakhapatnam airport and 17 services at Vijayawada.

Cyclone Arnab devastates north Andhra with extreme rains, 150 km/h winds, 1,000+ uprooted trees, major crop losses, and urgent relief announced.

Rainfall eases as Arnab makes landfall, temperatures rise across Keralam, with a dry spell and uncertain Bay of Bengal system impact ahead.

evere cyclonic storm Arnab, centred near the Andhra Pradesh coast at 2.30 pm on October 28, is expected to weaken into a cyclonic storm by evening and a deep depression by night. The system is likely to move north-northwestwards over the next 48 hours, with the Machilipatnam Doppler Weather Radar keeping it under continuous surveillance.

Cyclone Arnab killed five people in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said at a press conference in Amaravati on Wednesday. Their families will get ₹5 lakh each.Two of the deceased were from the Visakhapatnam region: one died when a tree fell on a power line, another when an electric pole collapsed. A man in Bhimavaram died after a palm tree fell on him. A woman in Anakapalli district was electrocuted. Another woman at Sakretipalli died when a wall collapsed on the vehicle she was travelling in.

Families whose houses were flooded will get 25 kg of rice, or 50 kg for fishermen and handloom weavers, along with pulses, onions, sugar, potatoes and palm oil.People in relief camps will get ₹1,000 each, up to ₹3,000 per family. Owners of partly damaged houses will get ₹10,000. Affected farmers will get ₹25,000 a hectare for paddy, cotton, groundnut and sugarcane, Mr. Naidu said. 

Chief Minister said he will visit Konaseema or West Godavari district on Thursday.

The storm was still lingering near the coast at 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, about 40 km north of Narsapur and 40 km west of Yanam, the IMD said. It has been creeping north at about 7 kmph, covering about 40 km in six hours.

The Met department expects it to weaken this evening and to lose most of its force by tonight. It will keep drifting north-northwest over the next two days.

Fallen trees disrupted traffic and power lines across Anakapalli district on Wednesday. Munagapaka mandal had 16 trees down and Yelamanchili 14. Atchutapuram, Sabbavaram, Kotavuratla and Makavarapalem also reported several each.

Teams from the Revenue, Roads and Buildings, Fire Services and power departments are clearing the roads and restoring supply.- V. Kamalakara Rao

Cyclone Arnab cut power to 25.33 lakh homes, shops and other non-farm connections across 11 districts served by the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL), officials told The Hindu on Wednesday. Another 94,439 farm connections in 4,016 villages were also hit. By the evening, supply had been restored to about 6.38 lakh non-farm connections, a quarter of those affected, and to 1,874 villages.

The storm brought down 6,270 electric poles and damaged 374 distribution transformers. All but seven of the company’s 477 substations were affected; 203 of them are working again. The damage to power installations is estimated at ₹11.69 crore. About 6,670 workers in 582 teams are on the job.

People have been asked not to touch snapped lines or fallen poles and to report problems on the toll-free number 1912.

Fallen electric poles and tangled power lines block a street at Doctors Colony near MVP Colony in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

The IMD’s Cyclone Warning Centre has warned of a moderate to high risk of flash floods in 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh till 5.30 a.m. on Thursday. The districts include Bapatla, Guntur, NTR, Krishna, Eluru, East and West Godavari, Kakinada, ASR, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Anakapalli and Parvathipuram Manyam. 

Garividi in Vizianagaram district recorded 26 cm of rain in the 24 hours to 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, the highest among the IMD’s stations. The strongest sustained wind was 96 kmph at Machilipatnam; Visakhapatnam and Kakinada recorded 80 kmph each.

Heavy rain is likely at isolated places on Thursday. The IMD also expects heavy rain at a few places on November 1, 2 and 3, the first of which is polling day for the civic elections.

About 80% of the power and water supply in Visakhapatnam district has been restored, Collector Abhishikth Kishore said on Wednesday. He expects the work to be complete by evening. Around 150 teams are clearing fallen trees and putting up damaged poles across the city. All roads in the district are open to traffic, including the national highways.

Rain is still forecast, and weakened poles and trees could fall on vehicles or people, the Collector said. He asked people to stay alert for the next 24 to 36 hours and not to go out unless it is an emergency.

Strong winds uprooted trees and brought down power poles around Machilipatnam, Minister for Mines and Geology Kollu Ravindra told PTI on Wednesday. Machilipatnam received more than 112 mm of rain, and the full-moon high tide slowed the flow of rainwater into the sea, leaving several areas waterlogged.

Most major roads have been cleared, he said. Officials expect power to be restored in most affected areas by Wednesday evening and all major roads to be cleared by Thursday morning.

Rain has set in over West Midnapore in West Bengal. Midnapore town recorded about 5 cm in the 24 hours to 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the IMD’s regional centre in Kolkata. Heavy rain of 7 to 11 cm is likely at one or two places in South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and Jhargram districts till Thursday morning.

Bankura, Purulia and West Burdwan could also get heavy rain on Thursday. In north Bengal, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri are likely to be hit on Thursday and Friday. 

The weakening storm is expected to move north-west and reach Malkangiri in Odisha by Wednesday evening or night, Manorama Mohanty, Director of the IMD in Bhubaneswar, said on Wednesday. Winds of 60 to 70 kmph, gusting to 80 kmph, are likely in Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Kalahandi districts.

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan reviewed relief work with the Collectors of districts from Bapatla to Srikakulam on Wednesday afternoon. Officials told him 93 roads had been damaged in East Godavari district alone, where about 736 trees were uprooted. In Kakinada district, 92 habitations were affected and 9,870 people are in relief camps. Falling poles and snapped wires have cut power across much of the affected districts, officials said.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan asked for the damaged beach road at Uppada to be assessed. He told officials to send people home from relief camps only after the winds die down and the rain eases. People should stay alert for another two days, he said in an X post. 

The heaviest rain moved from north Andhra to the central coast on Wednesday, following the storm inland. Gudavalli in Bapatla district recorded about 105 mm between 8.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the A.P. Directorate of Economics and Statistics (APDES). Bodagunta mandal in Krishna district got 100 mm and Ghantasala about 95 mm. The north has had a break after a drenching night. Visakhapatnam’s highest reading since morning was about 49 mm at HB Colony, against more than 260 mm in parts of the district in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. 

Seventeen of the 21 flight services scheduled at the Vijayawada airport on Wednesday have been cancelled, according to the airport’s schedule. 

At the Visakhapatnam airport, 38 flights due up to 6.15 p.m. have been cancelled, including international services to and from Bangkok and Abu Dhabi. 

A cargo vessel carrying sulphur appears to have drifted and run aground in the sea near Antarvedi in Konaseema district amid Cyclone Arnab. The vessel had left Visakhapatnam but drifted off course after its engine reportedly failed, port officials told ANI.

The Konaseema district administration had earlier been told of a cargo ship stranded near Gadimoga. A Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, the Sigma Pearl, left Visakhapatnam port shortly after midnight on October 27 and sent its last position signal at 9.47 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.

Cyclone Arnab has hardly moved since it hit the coast. In the six hours to 11.30 a.m. on Wednesday (October 28, 2026), it travelled only about 30 km, the IMD said. It was then about 20 km north of Narsapur, 44 km from Yanam and 60 km from Kakinada.

The storm is losing strength over land. The IMD expects it to weaken further by early evening and to become much weaker by around midnight. It will drift slowly north-west over the next two days.

Odisha has moved more than 30,000 people out of low-lying and landslide-prone areas, Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said on Wednesday. Malkangiri is likely to be the worst hit among the southern districts. Mahendragarh in Gajapati district recorded the most rain in the State in the past 24 hours, at nearly 250 mm. Pottangi in Koraput got 188 mm.

No major damage or deaths have been reported so far, Special Relief Commissioner Rajesh P. Patil told PTI. All 19,143 fishing boats are back on shore. Flights from Chennai and Hyderabad to Bhubaneswar are taking a longer route over Raipur to avoid the airspace near Visakhapatnam.

Odisha braces for flash floods as cyclone Arnab prompts mass evacuations, heavy rainfall, and disaster response across eight southern districts.

The Anakapalli district administration has put villages downstream on alert after water was released from the Pedderu reservoir on Wednesday. Residents of villages in Madugula, Anakapalli, Butchayyapeta, Chodavaram, Kasimkota and Rambilli mandals have been told not to go near rivers, streams or canals. They have also been asked to keep cattle away from flowing water.The reservoir was 89% full at 2.28 p.m., according to the State’s reservoir data. It was taking in 2,218 cusecs (cubic feet of water per second) while releasing 500 cusecs. 

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking a Central team to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Arnab once the State submits its detailed report. In the letter on Wednesday, he also sought continued support from the NDRF and other Central agencies over the coming days.

The State’s first estimate, given in the letter, shows paddy on about 70,900 hectares and horticulture crops on another 10,450 hectares under water or damaged. About 180 houses have been damaged, most of them in Konaseema district. Four wards of Visakhapatnam were flooded. Of the more than 220 trees that fell on State roads, over 170 have been cleared, he said. 

Waves surged onto the Visakhapatnam coast on Wednesday, hours after Cyclone Arnab crossed the coast near Narsapur. The IMD had warned of a storm surge of 1 to 1.5 metres in low-lying areas near the landfall zone. It expects the sea to calm down gradually now that the storm is over land.

Chokka Kishore Kumar, 46, died after a tree fell on him in Bhimavaram in West Godavari district at about 12.30 a.m. on Wednesday, an official said. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Later in the morning, Rambabu, a newspaper delivery man, suffered a critical head injury when an electric pole fell on his moped near a temple in the town. He is in the ICU.

The Jharkhand government has ordered the closure of schools till October 29 in several districts in the wake of rainfall triggered by cyclone ‘Arnab’, which made landfall in the Andhra Pradesh coast in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said.

Ranchi, West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum and Simdega district administrations said schools will remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday.

“In all government, government-aided and private schools operating within Ranchi district, academic activities for Classes KG to 12 shall remain suspended on October 28-29,” an official statement said.

Some parts of Telangana began to witness the impact of cyclonic storm Arnab as they received rains on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) morning. While rainfall over 10 mm was recorded in four districts, it was between 2 mm and 10 mm in four more. The very severe cyclonic storm crossed Andhra Pradesh and the Yanam coasts in the morning before weakening into a severe cyclonic storm.

India Meteorological Department-Hyderabad Centre, which issued a special weather bulletin in the afternoon, placed Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Nalgonda and Suryapet under orange alert indicating likelihood of receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall on Wednesday (October 28, 2026).

Cyclone Arnab brings rain to eight Telangana districts on October 28, 2026, with orange and yellow alerts, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall and thunderstorms.

A bulk carrier, the Marshall Islands-flagged Sigma Pearl, has been stranded near the Ravva oil field off the Konaseema-Kakinada coast. The ship had left Visakhapatnam port shortly after midnight on October 27. Engine failure is believed to have caused it to drift.

The ship last sent out its position at 9.47 a.m. on Tuesday, according to MarineTraffic, a website that tracks ships through their automatic signals. It was then moving under its own engine at 5.5 knots. The website now shows the vessel as out of range.The Konaseema district information office told The Hindu on Wednesday that Collector R. Mahesh Kumar had received word of a cargo ship stranded near Gadimoga on Tuesday. Officials are yet to find out how many crew members are on board or what state the vessel is in.

A 55-year-old woman died after she stepped on an exposed live wire outside her home in Yellamanchili town of Anakapalli district on Wednesday morning, the police said. In Visakhapatnam district, a 53-year-old man died on Tuesday night after he came into contact with a live wire that had snapped over a field channel, a senior district official said.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has asked people in cyclone-hit areas to stay alert, follow official advisories and avoid unnecessary travel until the impact of Cyclone Arnab subsides. Ministers are on the ground supervising relief work, he said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Mr. Naidu said no loss of life had been reported so far.

Trees fell at 10 locations on the railway network after Cyclone Arnab’s landfall, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a post on X on Wednesday. All were cleared promptly. He reviewed the situation with senior officials and said train operations were being closely watched.

The Narasapur-Tuticorin Special and the Narasapur-Thiruvannamalai Express have been cancelled on Wednesday. The Thiruvannamalai-Narasapur Special will stop at Bhimavaram. The SMV Bengaluru-Visakhapatnam Special will leave at 4.40 p.m. instead of 3.50 p.m. The Guntur-Dhone Express leaves at 2.30 p.m. instead of 1 p.m.

The Visakhapatnam-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express left Visakhapatnam at 4 a.m. instead of 11.20 p.m. on Tuesday. It has been diverted via Eluru instead of Gudivada. The Hubballi-Narasapur Express will be held for about 90 minutes on the way in the Guntur Division.

Thirty-eight flights to and from Visakhapatnam scheduled up to 6.15 p.m. on Wednesday have been cancelled, according to the airport’s flight information page. Nineteen arrivals and 19 departures are off, including international flights to and from Bangkok and Abu Dhabi. 

IndiGo said its flights to and from Rajahmundry, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam would remain affected on Wednesday and asked passengers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu held a teleconference with about 32,000 officials and field staff on Wednesday morning and asked them to clear fallen trees and restore traffic within two hours. Power is to be restored as soon as the winds ease and it is safe for crews to work. He also asked officials to prepare early estimates of crop damage.

Chief Minister Naidu told officials to clear fallen trees within two hours and restore power once winds ease after Cyclone Arnab’s landfall in Andhra Pradesh.

Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party president K. Pawan Kalyan has asked party workers to take part in the government’s relief and rescue work. Heavy rain is likely to continue in the coastal districts even after the cyclone crosses the coast, he said. The government is focusing on moving people from low-lying areas to relief camps and supplying food, milk and other essentials.

Andhra Pradesh has turned 609 school campuses into relief shelters for people moved from cyclone-hit areas on Wednesday. Unsafe buildings have been barricaded.

Schools in 16 coastal districts are closed, and 17,054 NCC, NSS and Scouts volunteers have been mobilised to help.

Andhra Pradesh has turned 609 schools into Cyclone Arnab relief shelters, flagged 78 buildings at risk of collapse and closed schools in 16 coastal districts.

Cyclone Arnab has weakened from a very severe to a severe cyclonic storm after completing its landfall, the IMD said on Wednesday. It crossed the coast between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m., about 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur, 40 km southwest of Yanam and 60 km southwest of Kakinada. Winds at landfall were 125 to 135 kmph, gusting to 150 kmph.- Sravani Nellore

The Kakinada police rescued four persons stranded in a Central Warehousing Corporation godown in Kakinada Anchorage Port today.

In an official release, Kakinada SP G. Bindhu Madhav has stated: “ Four staff, identified as Chintala Durga Prasad, Bommidi Anand Kumar, Soorreddi Nagaraju and Ganga Appala Raju, have been stranded in the CWC godown after water entered the godown campus”.

They spent the entire night inside the godown until the police rescued them. All of them are safe and reunited with their families. They are natives of Yanam and Kakinada.

The residents along the Kakinada coast breathed a sigh of relief this morning as winds weakened, making way for the disaster response personnel to restore the roads blocked by collapsed trees between Kakinada and Amalapuram in the Godavari region. 

Scores of trees have been removed on the same route. However, no human loss has been reported anywhere in the region so far. 

In Yanam, every street has been blocked with the trees that fell due to high-speed winds that were associated with the landfall of cyclone Arnab. Absence of rain enabled the people to come onto the streets in Kakinada and Yanam. 

The personnel from the NDRF and SDRF have intensified restoration of roads and streets. 

The people of Kakinada, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema and West Godavari districts are advised to remain indoors until 11 a.m. 

In many areas, banana and coconut plantations have suffered in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu today said no loss of life has been reported so far following Cyclone Arnab, crediting advance precautionary measures taken by the administration for preventing casualties.

Speaking during a teleconference with 32,000 personnel, including district collectors, the Chief Minister directed officials to minimise property damage and restore normalcy in cyclone-affected areas at the earliest.

“No loss of life has been reported so far due to Cyclone Arnab. The advance precautionary measures taken by the administrative machinery helped prevent casualties,” said Mr. Naidu in an official press release.

The centre of Cyclone Arnab was over the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coast, just south of Yanam, at 6.30 a.m. on Wednesday, the IMD’s Cyclone Warning Centre in Visakhapatnam said in its 7.30 a.m. bulletin. The rear part of the storm’s wall cloud was expected to cross the coast within the following hour, completing the landfall.

North coastal Andhra Pradesh got the heaviest rain as Cyclone Arnab crossed the coast overnight. Kannuripalem in Kasimkota mandal of Anakapalli district saw about 263 mm in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the highest in the State, according to the Andhra Pradesh Directorate of Economics and Statistics (APDES). Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district and the 16th Police Battalion campus in Visakhapatnam saw about 263 mm and 260 mm.

Thirty-nine automatic weather stations all in Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts crossed 204.5 mm, the mark the IMD uses for extremely heavy rain. Within Visakhapatnam city, Simhachalam saw about 238 mm, Madhurawada about 207 mm and RK Beach about 111 mm. The IMD’s own station at Waltair in Visakhapatnam recorded 217 mm, Kakinada 118 mm and Machilipatnam 115 mm.

Rayalaseema and the southern districts stayed almost dry, with less than 7.5 mm everywhere.

As Cyclone Arnab approaches the Andhra Pradesh coast, authorities have stepped up evacuations, cancelled train services and flights, and activated cyclone shelters across vulnerable districts. The Hindu’s Sumit Bhattacharjee explains the storm’s expected landfall, the threat of heavy rain and strong winds, and how Andhra Pradesh has strengthened its disaster preparedness since Cyclone Hudhud.

Andhra Pradesh prepares for Cyclone Arnab: evacuations, travel cancellations, shelters activated, with expert insight on landfall and severest impacts.

Cyclone Arnab remained “practically stationary” along the Andhra Pradesh coast early today, and the landfall process is expected to continue for the next 2-3 hours, the IMD said, as heavy rains lashed a number of districts in the southern State.

In some places in the State, police rescued stranded people. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation on in the morning.

According to the IMD, the northern spiral band of the cyclone has further entered the land, while the storm’s centre remains very close to the coastline.

“The cyclone remains practically stationary along the Andhra Pradesh coast, and the landfall process is expected to continue for another 2-3 hours,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in an update at 5.30 a.m.

With a severe cyclone expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast on Wednesday (October 28, 2026), the Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday (October 28, 2026) held a review meeting to assess the situation and ensure the safety of flight operations.

Cyclone’ Arnab’ is forecast to intensify into a very severe cyclone and make landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast today, with wind speeds of 125–135 km/h.

The very severe cyclonic storm ‘Arnab’ has begun its landfall process near Narsapur town in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, at around 1.30 a.m. on today.

Experts from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), however, said it is too early to indicate the exact location of the landfall. They said the landfall process may go on for a long time, and they can indicate the tentative landfall point only after the process is over.

Very severe cyclonic storm Arnab begins landfall near Narsapur, with heavy rains, wind, and surges threatening Andhra Pradesh coastal districts.

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