Trending 
Cyclone Arnab lashed India’s southeastern coastline with ferocious winds reaching 150 kph and torrential rain on Wednesday, forcing nearly 100,000 residents across two states to evacuate to government shelters.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed that the storm made landfall in Andhra Pradesh as a “very severe cyclonic storm” between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam.
Emphasising the state’s urgent response, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu declared, “Protecting every life is our foremost priority.”
Read More : Bolsonaro Defies Exit Ban, Flees to US
The severe weather uprooted power lines, flooded homes, and disrupted air travel, leaving port cities like Kakinada battered by massive ocean waves.
Authorities directed roughly 50,000 people to move inland in Andhra Pradesh and another 48,000 in Odisha, while weather officials warned of localised flooding and crop destruction.
Reaching safety at a relief camp, 65-year-old evacuee Rajeshwari explained: “Our homes get flooded, and we have to stay in the water. So the government provided us with a bus, and we came here to shelter.”
The storm’s reach extended well beyond India, prompting emergency warnings and school closures across Sri Lanka, as well as severe mountain alerts in Nepal.
Nepalese authorities urged tourists to avoid high-altitude areas due to extreme risks of avalanches and heavy snowstorms as the system moves toward the Himalayas.
