Cyclone Arnab weakened into a deep depression on Thursday, October 29, 2026, but its toll continued to climb as heavy rain, flooding and landslide risks spread inland across eastern India. At least five people have been confirmed dead in Andhra Pradesh, with some local reports putting the figure higher as damage assessments continue.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the system crossed the Andhra Pradesh–Yanam coast early on Wednesday, October 28, as a very severe cyclonic storm with sustained winds of 125–135 km/h, gusting to 150 km/h. The IMD said in its Thursday bulletin that the deep depression was very likely to weaken further into a depression by Thursday morning and then into a well-marked low-pressure area by evening.
Five confirmed dead, homes and power lines down
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu confirmed five deaths in cyclone-related incidents involving electrocution, falling electric poles, an uprooted palm tree and a wall collapse, according to reports of his briefing. The fatalities were reported from Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Konaseema and the Bhimavaram area.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) initially reported three deaths in Andhra Pradesh, official Narendra Singh Bundela said, with two caused by electrocution — a man who touched a live wire over an agricultural channel on Tuesday night and a woman who stepped on an exposed wire outside her home in Yellamanchili, Anakapalli district, on Wednesday morning. Later state assessments raised the confirmed toll to five, and one local newspaper cited officials linking nine deaths to the storm, a figure not yet confirmed by the state government.
Naidu wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the storm had destroyed at least 180 houses and brought down 220 trees, according to reports of the letter. Other assessments reported around 15,000 electricity poles brought down, disrupting power across affected areas, though power had been restored in most districts by Thursday, with Konaseema and West Godavari among the areas still facing outages.
Odisha and inland states still on alert
In neighbouring Odisha, at least 17 districts were affected by widespread rainfall, according to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. More than 100,000 people were evacuated across the two states — 84,396 people to 290 relief camps in Andhra Pradesh and 43,827 people to 634 relief centres in Odisha, according to state figures cited in Thursday reports.
Shah said on Thursday he had spoken with the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, assuring full central support, with NDRF and state disaster response teams continuing rescue and relief operations and inter-ministerial central teams to be sent to assess damage. The IMD warned of continued heavy rainfall, localised flooding, waterlogging, landslides and damage to standing crops as the system moved inland, with crops damaged across more than 224,000 hectares in Andhra Pradesh according to one state assessment.
