VISAKHAPATNAM (The Thursday Times) — At least three people have been killed in Andhra Pradesh after Cyclone Arnab crossed the coast near Narsapur, officials said on Wednesday, as the storm weakened over land but kept dumping heavy rain across eastern India.
A 46-year-old man, Chokka Kishore Kumar, died when a tree fell on him in Bhimavaram in West Godavari district shortly after midnight, The Hindu reported. A 55-year-old woman was electrocuted after stepping on a live wire outside her home in Yellamanchili, Anakapalli district, and a 53-year-old man died after touching a snapped wire over a field channel in Visakhapatnam district.
Crops, homes and flights
The cyclone completed landfall about 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur by 8.30am, with winds of 125–135 km/h gusting to 150 km/h, before weakening to a “severe” cyclonic storm. It has barely moved since, travelling only about 30 km in six hours, the India Meteorological Department said.
In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah asking for a central damage team, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said about 70,900 hectares of paddy and 10,450 hectares of horticulture crops were under water or damaged and around 180 houses had been hit, most in Konaseema. Four wards of Visakhapatnam flooded, more than 220 trees fell on state roads, and 38 flights at Visakhapatnam airport were cancelled. Around 57,000 people are in relief camps and 609 schools have been turned into shelters.
Odisha, Telangana and Jharkhand
Odisha has moved more than 30,000 people from low-lying and landslide-prone areas, with no major damage reported so far. Rain has spread to Telangana, where four districts are on orange alert, and Jharkhand has shut schools in several districts until Thursday. A cargo ship, the Marshall Islands-flagged Sigma Pearl, was reported stranded off the Konaseema-Kakinada coast after an apparent engine failure. Read our earlier report on the landfall.
