Cyclone Arnab: 30,043 boats back in harbour, 4,711 pregnant women moved to hospitals as 15 rescue teams spread across 11 coastal districts

Andhra Pradesh spent 26 October tightening its preparations for Cyclone Arnab, with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu telling officials that the storm must pass without a single death. At a review with senior officials and the district collectors, who joined by video, he was told that every fisherman at sea had returned and that 30,043 boats were safely in harbour. Nobody is to go back out until the cyclone weakens and the sea settles, he said.

Seven National Disaster Response Force teams and eight State Disaster Response Force teams have been placed across the 11 coastal districts, with additional forces held in reserve in NTR and Visakhapatnam districts. The marine police, the Navy and the Coast Guard are to be drawn in for rescue and relief.

The vulnerable go first

People in low-lying areas are to be moved to cyclone shelters, with the elderly, people with disabilities, pregnant women and infants first. Officials told the Chief Minister that 4,711 pregnant women identified across the state were being shifted in advance to primary and community health centres and hospitals. Harvested paddy is to be moved to safe ground, ration shops are to hold full stocks, and power is to be restored at once wherever it fails. Horticultural crops on about 1.82 lakh hectares are at risk, the review was told.

Six reservoirs, Tandava, Raiwada, Yeleru, Tammileru, Yerrakaluva and Tadipudi, are expected to fill to the brim, and officials were asked to keep streams and canals clear of obstructions. The Chief Minister asked the collectors to act firmly against false information about the storm on social media, and to declare holidays for schools and colleges wherever the impact is severe.

Rain from the afternoon of 27 October

The weather office expects the storm to cross the coast near Yanam, between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, on the forenoon of 28 October, with winds of 115 to 125 kmph gusting to 140. Moderate to heavy rain is forecast from Srikakulam to Nellore from the afternoon of 27 October, and heavy to extremely heavy rain on 28 and 29 October in Konaseema, East Godavari, West Godavari, Eluru, Krishna, NTR, Guntur, Palnadu, Bapatla, Prakasam and Nellore districts, along with the north coastal districts. The state helplines 112, 1070 and 18004250101 are open.