Very severe cyclone ‘Arnab’ hovered practically stationary along the Andhra Pradesh coastline on Wednesday morning, unleashing gale-force winds and torrential downpours that disrupted life across multiple eastern and southern states.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed that the Cyclone’s centre remained locked close to the coast during an extended landfall process, prompting red alerts in five vulnerable Andhra districts. The weather system triggered severe logistical chaos across the transport sector, leading to the cancellation of 12 flights and several trains in Tamil Nadu, alongside flight groundings in Kolkata, while Jharkhand authorities ordered schools shut until 29 October.
While administrative bodies deployed disaster response machinery to evacuate vulnerable zones and clear obstructed routes, local rescue teams successfully brought four stranded citizens to safety from a submerged Visakhapatnam locality.
Ground Realities
The cyclone struck coastal belts with intense ferocity, bringing sustained wind speeds of 115 to 125 km/h, with gusts reaching up to 140 km/h that uprooted large trees and snapped electrical infrastructure across Kakinada and adjacent regions.
In Visakhapatnam, heavy overnight rainfall inundated low-lying areas, where emergency personnel carried out a critical operation to rescue four individuals trapped in knee-to-waist-deep water. Emphasising swift restoration, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu directed administrative departments to act swiftly in this Cyclone, stating that officials must “clear fallen trees from roads within two hours and immediately remove obstructions on National Highways” to keep vital lifelines open. Highlighting the system’s prolonged impact, an IMD bulletin noted that the system was “practically stationary” as the “wall cloud region of the northern sector has further entered into the land,” prolonging intense exposure to coastal belts.
A Cascading Crisis
The lingering nature of the weather system created ripple effects far beyond Andhra Pradesh’s borders.
In Tamil Nadu, aviation authorities cancelled 12 flights heading towards Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, and Rajahmundry, while Southern Railway suspended several train routes as coastal tracks faced waterlogging and signal risks. At Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, at least five flights were grounded and dozens delayed owing to adverse weather and poor visibility linked to the storm’s outer bands. Recognising the threat of torrential rainfall and urban inundation moving inland, the Jharkhand government proactively closed educational institutions in vulnerable southern districts until 29 October to protect children and prevent civic gridlock.
These wide-ranging precautionary measures underscored the immense geographic footprint of modern Bay of Bengal cyclones, where disruptions frequently stretch across hundreds of kilometres.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Every cyclone that sweeps across our coastlines serves as a stark reminder of human vulnerability and our collective responsibility towards planetary health.
While we commend the tireless commitment of first responders, emergency workers, and civic authorities who worked round the clock in flooded neighbourhoods to protect vulnerable citizens, we must also acknowledge that extreme, erratic weather systems are no longer isolated anomalies. They are direct manifestations of a deepening climate crisis driven by ecological neglect. Climate justice and compassion demand that our planning moves beyond reactive disaster relief towards deep, proactive resilience—building climate-safe infrastructure, protecting fragile coastal ecosystems like mangroves, and safeguarding our daily-wage earners and fishing communities who bear the heaviest brunt of displacement.
True progress lies in living in harmony with nature rather than attempting to out-muscle its elements. How can our local communities and governance bodies better unite to turn climate resilience from an emergency response into a daily social practice?
#BREAKING Rough seas reported at Ennore in North Chennai as Cyclone Arnab approaches Andhra Pradesh IMD forecasts landfall between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, near Yanam, tomorrow morning, with winds of 115–125 kmph, gusting to 140 kmph https://t.co/jylxklv4bk
— Nabila Jamal (@nabilajamal_) October 27, 2026
