India evacuates over 180,000 as Cyclone Arnab hits coast

Trees crashed onto highways, electricity poles were uprooted and thousands took shelter against Arnab, a powerful cyclone that made landfall Wednesday on India’s east coast, authorities said. More than 180,000 people had been evacuated in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha ahead of the cyclone’s arrival. No loss of life has been reported in either state, though power supplies have been disrupted and trees have been uprooted. Some schools have been closed and some train and flight services canceled.

Arnab, classified by the India Meteorological Department as a very severe cyclonic storm, the third-highest category on its scale, made landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast on Wednesday morning, with the cyclone’s center then moving fully inland, the agency said. Visuals on television showed trees fallen on highways as workers in rain gear worked to clear the road of branches and leaves. “No one knew whose house the water would rush into next, or whose home would be submerged,” said Nagi, a resident of Kakinada district in Andhra Pradesh, one of the areas in the path of the storm.

“Trees have fallen, houses have been damaged, and all our belongings, including our books, have been destroyed,” said Nagi, who did not give a last name. Fishermen along the coast had been advised against venturing into the sea, and the weather department said it anticipated loss to crops, thatched houses and communication lines. Winds of about 78 to 84 mph and gusts of up to 93 mph are forecast, with a storm surge of about 3 to 5 feet above normal tide likely to inundate low-lying areas of Andhra Pradesh, it said.

Operations at three Andhra Pradesh airports were suspended, India’s civil aviation ministry said. In neighboring Nepal, authorities suspended issuing trekking permits to high mountain areas for three days because of the risk of rains and blizzards, Gita Ghimire, information officer in the Department of Immigration, told Reuters. This is peak trekking season in Nepal, with around 750 hikers getting permits per day. On Tuesday, Nepal warned tourists against venturing into high-altitude areas due to fears that Arnab could trigger torrential downpours, snowstorms and avalanches in the Himalayan region from Thursday night through Saturday.

Arnab formed over the Bay of Bengal, a major region for tropical cyclones that has spawned deadly storms on India’s east coast. A super cyclone that killed nearly 10,000 people when it hit Odisha in October 1999 remains one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters. India, however, has over the years developed early-warning systems and preventive measures to minimize loss of life.