Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said the State government was fully prepared to deal with the impact of Cyclone Arnab, which has been categorised as a red-alert weather system, and appealed to people not to panic but to follow safety instructions issued by the authorities.
Addressing a press conference at his camp office in the evening, Naidu said the next few hours would be crucial, as the cyclone was expected to cross the coast by Wednesday morning in the stretch between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, near Yanam. Follow LIVE Updates
The cyclone is expected to affect a large stretch of the Andhra Pradesh coastline, from Srikakulam to Bapatla, with particularly heavy rainfall and strong winds forecast in several coastal districts.
According to the chief minister, Yanam, near Kakinada, is among the areas where the cyclone is likely to cross the coast. “Winds with speeds of 125 to 135 kmph are likely during the landfall. I appeal to the people not to venture outdoors during the period of intense winds and rain,” he said.
Naidu said the state government had established 290 cyclone shelters and shifted 84,396 people to safer locations. Residents of coastal villages, islands, low-lying areas and other vulnerable settlements had been urged to move to designated cyclone shelters and avoid unnecessary travel.
“The safety of people’s lives is the government’s foremost priority,” the chief minister said, adding that the administration was making every effort to prevent casualties and minimise damage to property.
He said rainfall associated with the cyclone had already begun in parts of north Andhra districts since Tuesday morning. Heavy to extremely heavy rains were expected in majority of the coastal districts before and after the landfall on Wednesday.
Quoting official estimates, Naidu identified Konaseema, Eluru, West Godavari, Manyam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Kakinada, among other areas, as potentially vulnerable to severe impacts.
According to the forecast, rainfall could reach 300 mm in Srikakulam district, 280 mm in West Godavari and 230 mm in Visakhapatnam. Several other places could receive more than 100 mm of rainfall.
He warned that seawater could enter low-lying areas along the coast and asked residents in vulnerable locations to remain indoors or move to safer places as advised by local authorities.
Naidu said the administration was taking precautionary measures to minimise loss of life and property.
He, however, said the Cyclone Arnab was currently expected to be less intense than Cyclone Hudhud, which caused extensive damage in Andhra Pradesh in 2014. However, he stressed that the government was not taking the threat lightly and had activated emergency-response arrangements across the State.
As part of the precautionary measures, more than 30,000 fishing boats belonging to fishermen from the state had been recalled from the sea, Naidu said, adding 93 boats from Andhra Pradesh, along with their crews, were safe at Gopalpur in Odisha.
Authorities have also been coordinating with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Navy and Coast Guard to ensure that rescue and emergency operations could be undertaken quickly wherever necessary.
Control rooms have been established at both the State and district levels and are functioning round the clock. The government is issuing cyclone-warning bulletins every hour and continuously reviewing developments, the chief minister said.
The government has kept 1,316 ambulances ready to provide medical assistance and shifted approximately 5,000 pregnant women to primary health centres, community health centres and nearby hospitals to ensure access to medical care during the cyclone.
Arrangements have also been made to supply safe drinking water through tankers, with generators kept ready to support essential services in the event of power disruptions.
Around 8,400 personnel have been prepared to respond to electricity-related emergencies. Officials have estimated that as many as 15,000 electricity poles could be damaged or uprooted by the cyclone and are making arrangements to restore power supplies as quickly as possible.
Naidu said the administration was working to ensure that essential services, particularly healthcare, drinking water and emergency communications, remained available during the storm. Special arrangements have been made to use drones to deliver food and medicines to villages that may become inaccessible because of flooding.
The cyclone could affect approximately 7.16 lakh hectares of agricultural crops and 16 lakh hectares of horticultural crops, according to the estimates cited by the Chief Minister.
The government has made arrangements to distribute ration supplies to children and lactating mothers through Anganwadi centres, while officials have been instructed to ensure that essential food supplies reach vulnerable communities.
Several flights cancelled at Bhogapuram and Vijayawada
The cyclone has also disrupted air services in Andhra Pradesh.
Authorities at Bhogapuram airport cancelled 16 flights scheduled to operate to and from destinations including Delhi, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Tirupati, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai.
At Vijayawada International Airport, six flight services were cancelled on Tuesday because of changing weather conditions.
Airport authorities also announced the cancellation of all IndiGo services scheduled for Wednesday, along with an Air India service to Delhi and two Hyderabad services operated by Fly91.
Passengers have been advised to check the latest flight status with their respective airlines before proceeding to airports.