Cyclone Arnab made landfall a little while ago, somewhere between 2 and 4 this morning, right around the Yanam-Kakinada stretch. Winds were sitting at 125 to 135 kmph and gusting up to 150 when it crossed. By now a lot of people in those coastal towns must be hearing the rain hammering the roofs and the wind still pushing at the windows.
IMD had been saying all day Tuesday that it was getting closer faster than they first expected. By late evening the centre was only about 70 km south-southeast of Kakinada and already starting to feel the land. That’s why the landfall time moved earlier. Once these things hit land they usually start losing strength pretty quick, but the rain they bring can hang around and spread quite a bit further inland.
Andhra’s taking the first proper hit. The northern districts — Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Anakapalli, Srikakulam, Kakinada, East and West Godavari — already got proper heavy rain on Tuesday. One place in Visakhapatnam rural recorded more than 140 mm in a day. Trees are down all over the city, power lines have snapped in a few spots, and the low-lying areas are filling up. One person died, a 65-year-old man in Mangalapalem who touched a live wire that had fallen into water. The Chief Minister said they’ve shifted over 84,000 people into 290 shelters and every fishing boat is safely back.
Odisha’s next. Southern districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur are under the stronger alerts. Teams have been moving people out of the riskier coastal and low-lying spots. Schools are shut, no one’s going out to fish, and the disaster teams are ready. They’re looking at heavy to extremely heavy rain through today and into Thursday as the system drifts inland.
The rain won’t stop at the coast either. Chhattisgarh, eastern Telangana, bits of Vidarbha, East Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and even some places in Bihar and Gangetic West Bengal are going to see solid showers as it moves north and northeast. Isolated extremely heavy falls are still possible over coastal Andhra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh today. Farmers have been told to harvest whatever’s ready and keep it safe. Rivers and drains along the coast are being watched because of that one-to-two-metre surge that was expected around Kakinada and Yanam.
Travel’s a mess. Dozens of trains on the Vijayawada–Visakhapatnam–Kakinada route were cancelled or delayed. Flights out of Visakhapatnam got disrupted and today’s schedule looks uncertain. Ports put up the highest danger signals. Beaches from Visakhapatnam down to Kakinada stayed closed and the sea was really rough in the hours before landfall.
What feels different this time is how early everyone got ready. People were moved well before the worst winds arrived. Fishermen came back safe. Control rooms at district and mandal level stayed open through the night. That preparation is going to matter over the next couple of days because even after the wind drops the water will keep coming. Waterlogging, blocked roads and power cuts are almost certain in the worst-hit spots.
Right now the main worry is that stretch of coast from Bapatla up to Visakhapatnam and the adjoining southern Odisha districts. Relief teams are already on the move and the power and road crews are waiting for the winds to ease so they can start fixing things. People in the shelters are being looked after, and the next few IMD updates will tell us how fast the system weakens and how far the rain spreads.
If you’re in any of the alerted districts, stay indoors if you can, keep checking the local messages, and stay away from low-lying or flood-prone areas until they say it’s okay. The cyclone has made landfall, but the rain is still very much going on.
Sources: IMD bulletins and coastal warnings from 27-28 October 2026, The Hindu reports from Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, India Today and Indian Express live coverage, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha disaster management updates.
@Rohit Manral