Cyclone Arnab killed five people in Andhra Pradesh before weakening into a deep depression on Wednesday. The storm damaged crops and infrastructure across the region. Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Manjhi said the state had achieved its “zero casualty” objective. Many districts in Odisha and Chhattisgarh remain under rain alerts.
Cyclone Arnab weakened into a deep depression over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining parts of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana late on Wednesday after leaving at least five people dead and damaging crops and public infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh's coastal districts.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the system was expected to weaken further into a depression by Thursday morning and turn into a well-marked low-pressure area by evening.
In Odisha, heavy rain triggered landslides while roads were flooded and trees uprooted. However, Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Manjhi said the state had achieved its “zero casualty” objective despite the damage, PTI news agency reported.
The IMD added that the storm continued to move “nearly northwards” and was likely to weaken into a depression. Meanwhile, nine districts in Odisha remained under orange alert on Thursday. These include Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Deogarh, Subarnapur, Bauda, Kandhamal, Gajapati and Ganjam. An orange alert is a “be prepared” warning, indicating moderate to heavy rainfall. The rest of the state was under yellow alert, which indicates light to moderate rainfall.
In Chhattisgarh, Gariaband, Dhamtari, Kanker, Narayanpur and Kondagaon were under orange alert, while a yellow alert was issued for the rest of the state. All Andhra Pradesh districts also remained under yellow alert.
Cyclone Arnab aftermath
The cyclone made landfall in Andhra Pradesh in the early hours of Wednesday, thus making the state the worst-hit. Andhra Pradesh CM Naidu said three persons had died in Visakhapatnam district due to the fall of electric poles and trees amid rain, and one each had lost their lives in Anakapalli and Bhimavaram.
Naidu expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and announced ex gratia of ₹5 lakh to each of the families of the deceased. He wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah about considerable damage to crops and infrastructure and urged the early deputation of a central team to assess the damage, HT reported earlier.
Meanwhile, around 15,000 electricity poles were uprooted across the state, Naidu said citing preliminary estimates. “The cyclone has also affected an estimated 3.45 lakh farmers, with standing crops inundated or damaged across 2,24,489 hectares in 14 districts,” he said.