New Delhi: Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan on Monday directed agencies to ensure zero loss of life and minimal damage to property and infrastructure as cyclone 'Arnab' looms over Bay of Bengal.
Chairing a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to review preparedness ahead of the cyclone's landfall, he directed that, in event of any damage, essential services be restored at the earliest.
He said, in addition to Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and the Union Territory of Puducherry, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) should suitably alert eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, since high rainfall was also expected there.
The IMD informed the committee that a deep depression over east-central and southeast Bay of Bengal has moved westward, and has intensified into cyclonic storm 'Arnab'.
At 5.30 am Monday, the cyclone lay centred over east-central and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal -- about 590 km northwest of Sri Vijaya Puram (Andaman Islands), 650 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 730 km east-southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 830 km east of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 910 km east of Bapatla (Andhra Pradesh), the IMD said.
"It is forecast to move west-northwestwards till October 27 and then northwestwards towards the Andhra Pradesh coast.
"It is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam as a very severe cyclonic storm, with maximum sustained winds of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph by forenoon of October 28, 2026. Thereafter, it is likely to affect districts in Telangana, southern Odisha, south and central Chhattisgarh, apart from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar," a government statement said.
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