Very severe cyclone Arnab closes on India's coast, with a surge of up to 2.5 m

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Cyclone Arnab has strengthened into a very severe cyclonic storm over the westcentral Bay of Bengal, and India's weather office keeps its red message in force for Andhra Pradesh and adjoining south Odisha.

In National Bulletin 19, the India Meteorological Department said Arnab was centered near 16.2N 83.3E at 1430 IST on Oct 27, about 140 km southeast of Kakinada and 170 km south of Visakhapatnam, moving west northwest at 18 km/h. It expects the storm to cross the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to south of Yanam, by the forenoon of Oct 28, with maximum sustained winds of 125 to 135 km/h gusting to 150 km/h.

The bulletin raises the expected storm surge to 1.5 to 2.5 m above the astronomical tide, very likely to flood low lying areas of Andhra Pradesh at landfall, with the peak near Kakinada and Yanam. It forecasts extremely heavy rain of 21 cm or more at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh on Oct 27 and 28, and heavy rain spreading inland across Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar as the storm weakens through Oct 30.

The US Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which tracks the storm as Tropical Cyclone 02B, put its one minute winds at 115 kt gusting to 140 kt at 06 UTC, with a minimum pressure of 947 mb. The two agencies measure wind differently, so their numbers do not match one to one.

Fishermen are advised not to go into the westcentral Bay of Bengal or along the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts from Oct 27 to 29, the bulletin says.