NEW DELHI — Indian authorities are moving tens of thousands of people to shelters as Cyclone Arnab, classed as a “very severe” cyclonic storm, heads for the country’s east coast.
The India Meteorological Department has issued warnings for Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The storm was centred about 260km southeast of Visakhapatnam and is expected to make landfall by 11:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, with sustained winds of 115-125km/h gusting to 140km/h.
More than 12 million people live along its projected path, Al Jazeera reported. Nearly 50,000 people were in shelters by Monday night out of about 400,000 who need to be evacuated, Prakhar Jain of the Andhra Pradesh disaster management authority told Reuters.
Odisha plans to evacuate 48,000 people, The Hindu reported. At least 12 trains have been cancelled and services on 53 routes suspended.
Neighbouring Nepal advised tourists to stay away from high altitudes from Thursday night to Saturday. A flash flood there in August killed about 1,500 people.
Sources: Al Jazeera
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