Very severe Cyclone Arnab nears Andhra coast, landfall expected between 2 am and 4 am Wednesday

Very severe cyclonic storm Arnab is likely to make landfall early on Wednesday, the Meteorological Department said on Tuesday.

It will cross Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam between 2 am and 4 am, a Met department update said.

The very severe cyclonic storm over west-central Bay of Bengal moved west to northwestwards with a speed of 18 kmph in the past six hours up to 5:30 pm today and lay centered over west-central Bay of Bengal, a Met department update said.

The weather system is located about 90 km southeast of Kakinada, 170 km south to southwest of Visakhapatnam, 170 km east to northeast of Machilipatnam, 240 km east to northeast of Bapatla and 410 km southwest of Gopalpur.

"It is very likely to continue to move nearly west-northwestwards during next few hours, then northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh & Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to south of Yanam as a very severe cyclonic storm with the maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 kmph (and) gusting to 150 kmph during early hours of October 28," it said .

It observed that Arnab is interacting with the land surface and the outer spiral band has entered into the land.

"Due to faster movement, the landfall of the cyclone is expected early, likely during early hours around 2 am to 4 am on Wednesday", it added.