Authorities in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha ordered nearly 100,000 people to leave vulnerable areas as Cyclone Arnab approached the country's southeast coast, with landfall forecast for the early hours of October 28.
The India Meteorological Department expected the storm to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast as a very severe cyclonic storm between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. local time. Forecast gusts reached 150 kilometres per hour. Heavy rain and large waves were already affecting Kakinada, where police blocked roads leading toward the sea.
Local reporting cited by AFP said roughly 50,000 residents had been directed to safe areas in Andhra Pradesh and another 48,000 in Odisha. Odisha opened 1,735 cyclone shelters and restricted movement in places exposed to landslides. Authorities in some Andhra Pradesh districts also closed educational institutions for several days.
Preparations extended to people requiring additional support. More than 4,700 pregnant women living in areas considered at risk were transferred to hospitals, according to an Indian Express figure carried in the report. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu instructed officials to maintain constant monitoring and take precautions in advance, while the national Cabinet Secretariat said shelter and evacuation arrangements were in place.
The weather bureau warned of severe damage to lightly built homes, localized flooding, uprooted electricity and communications poles, and widespread losses to standing crops. Such warnings describe forecast risks rather than confirmed destruction; the storm had not yet completed landfall on the event date.
The system also prompted alerts beyond India. Sri Lanka closed schools as its meteorological service warned of intense rain, flash floods and mudslides, and the military was placed on alert. Nepal's disaster authority advised tourists to avoid high mountain areas because the cyclone's remnants were expected to move inland toward the Himalayas, bringing risks of heavy snow, storms and avalanches.
Coastal communities around the Bay of Bengal regularly face cyclones, but exposure varies according to the storm's track, intensity, tide and local construction. Advance evacuation is one of the principal measures used to reduce deaths when forecasters expect destructive winds and flooding.
For Arnab, officials were acting before impact rather than waiting for conditions to deteriorate. The accelerated landfall estimate narrowed the remaining preparation window, making compliance with evacuation orders and access to shelters central to the response. Assessments of casualties and physical damage would depend on verified reports after the storm crossed the coast.
