Cyclone batters India's eastern coast, killing 3 and damaging homes and farmland

Cyclone Arnab made landfall early Wednesday as a very severe cyclonic storm before weakening to a severe cyclonic storm as it moved inland, the India Meteorological Department said. Two women were electrocuted in separate incidents in the port city of Visakhapatnam, while another person was killed when a tree fell in East Godavari district, officials said.

State disaster management officials said late Wednesday morning that wind speeds reached 135 kph (84 mph). Officials said the cyclone was expected to weaken further as it moved inland, with wind speeds likely to ease later in the day.

The state’s chief minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, said that 14 coastal districts of the state were badly affected. He said winds and heavy rains caused widespread damage to houses, road networks, electrical poles and power supply infrastructure.

He requested urgent assistance from the central government. The cyclone damaged 79,000 acres of crops and dozens of homes. The worst hit area was the state’s fertile Konaseema district.

Banana and coconut plantations suffered extensively and a large number of trees and electricity poles were uprooted, disrupting electricity across the district, officials said. The meteorological service said the landfall process was complete and heavy rainfall as well as strong winds would continue under the cyclone’s influence in coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and parts of southern Odisha state.

The rainfall flooded several low-lying areas in Visakhapatnam. Cyclone Arnab weakened to a “severe” cyclonic storm Wednesday, the department said in an update. Authorities began evacuating people from low-lying and flood-prone areas ahead of the cyclone’s landfall.

They also canceled some train services as heavy rain and gusty winds started lashing parts of the coast. At least 180,000 people were evacuated in Andhra Pradesh,. The state’s disaster management authority said more than 12 million people live along the cyclone’s expected path.

Authorities set up over 2,000 cyclone shelters across 20 districts, while emergency alerts were being sent to the mobile phones of millions of residents, Prakhar Jain, head of the state’s disaster management authority, said, India news agency.

More than 30,000 fishing boats were secured along the coast, while nearly 1,100 medical teams were deployed across affected areas to provide emergency assistance, he added. In neighboring Odisha, officials planned to evacuate about 48,000 people from areas likely to be affected by the storm.

In neighboring Nepal, the disaster agency warned of heavy rain, lightning and thunderstorms across much of the country. It advised tourists to avoid high-altitude and Himalayan areas and warned of possible road and air travel disruptions.

Nepal continues to recover from devastating flash floods in August that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands more missing. More flooding was reported earlier this month in northern Nepal.