Cyclone Arnab weakened into a deep depression over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining parts of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana late on Wednesday after leaving at least five people dead and damaging crops and public infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh’s coastal districts.
As Andhra Pradesh and Odisha assessed the damage caused by the storm, several districts in both states remained under yellow and orange weather alerts on Thursday. Meanwhile, nine districts in Odisha remained under orange alert on Thursday. These include Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Deogarh, Subarnapur, Bauda, Kandhamal, Gajapati and Ganjam. The rest of the state was under yellow alert, which indicates light to moderate rainfall.
The IMD in its latest update on the cyclone said the storm had “moved nearly northwards with the speed of 15 kmph” late on Wednesday and weakened into a deep depression. As of 11.30 pm on Wednesday, it lay centered “over the north coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining areas of South Odisha, south Chhattisgarh and northeast Telangana near latitude 17.8°N and longitude 81.8°E, about 60 km South of Malkangiri (Odisha), 90 km west-southwest of Paderu (Andhra Pradesh), 140 km south of Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), and 190 km east-northeast of Khammam (Telengana)”, the weather department said in a post on X. The IMD added that the storm continued to move “nearly northwards” and was likely to weaken into a depression. An orange alert is a “be prepared” warning, indicating moderate to heavy rainfall.
