India news: Cyclone Arnab turns deadly after landfall

“Very severe” Cyclone Arnab made a sooner-than-expected landfall along India’s east coast and is now “practically stationary” at the edge, authorities said.

The storm, with winds over 125 kilometers per hour (78 miles per hour) and gusts of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour), is in the third-highest category of storms on a scale of five.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said its landfall would last for over two hours and that the edge of the storm was already on the coast of the south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Its center remains over sea.

Power, transport disrupted

The cyclone brought heavy rains, high winds and disruption to Andhra and its neighboring state of Odisha. Gales rocked trees, winds and heavy rain disrupted power lines and the storm caused the sea to surge like many locals had never seen before. Flight and train services were also impacted.

“There was a cyclone here three years ago, but the water didn’t rise this much,” a 35-year-old local resident said, adding that the government had warned them to stock up on groceries beforehand.

The weather agency warned of “total destruction” of thatched houses, localized flooding, the uprooting of power and communications poles, and “widespread damage” to standing crops.

No casualties so far

No loss of life has been reported in either states as of Wednesday morning.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu credited advance precautionary measures for preventing casualties so far. He said so during a teleconference meeting to monitor the impact of the storm onground, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

Together, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha evacuated nearly 100,000 people from vulnerable regions in preperation of the storm. They were moved inland fro better shelter.

“Our homes get flooded, and we have to stay in the water,” said Rajeshwari, 65, who gave only one name and had been taken to a government-run shelter near Kakinada. “So the government provided us with a bus, and we came here to shelter,” she told AFP.

In Nepal, authorities warned tourists against ​venturing into high-altitude areas ‌due to fears that Arnab could trigger torrential downpours, snowstorms and avalanches in the Himalayan region from Thursday night ​through Saturday.

Arnab formed on Monday morning in the Bay of Bengal, a region known for birthing some of the deadliest storms to batter India. This year’s season, however, is turbocharged by the El Nino weather phenomenon which is causing unprecedented warmingexperts say.