Bhubaneswar: With Cyclone Arnab making landfall along the Andhra Pradesh coast early on Wednesday, widespread heavy rain and strong winds lashed large parts of Odisha, particularly its southern districts, uprooting trees, damaging roads and electric poles, and causing waterlogging in several areas.
Although the system weakened after crossing the neighbouring state’s coast as a very severe cyclonic storm, it continued to impact Odisha as it moved inland.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, following a comprehensive review of the cyclone’s status and response management at the Special Relief Commissioner’s (SRC) Control Room on Wednesday evening, said 17 districts had been affected, with Gajapati bearing the maximum impact. Southern districts including Ganjam, Koraput and Rayagada were also affected. He confirmed that no loss of life has been reported so far, crediting the positive outcome to the government’s proactive “zero casualty” policy while noting that Odisha had prepared on a scale more than twice that of Andhra Pradesh while coordinating closely with the neighbouring state and the Centre.
The Chief Minister highlighted that Union Home Minister Amit Shah remained in regular phone contact before and during the cyclone to review preparedness measures. “Our disaster management system is fully equipped, and our administration was prepared for any contingency, allowing us to handle the situation successfully,” he said, adding that damage assessment and restoration efforts are underway.
The state ensured timely disaster response measures, with advance evacuation of 43,827 people to 634 relief shelters in eight affected districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Ganjam, Gajapati, and Nuapada and pre-emptive transfer of 2,245 pregnant women to medical facilities, resulting in 931 safe deliveries.
Authorities had kept around 2,037 shelters ready and deployed 313 response teams from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, National Disaster Response Force and Fire Services. All 19,143 fishing boats operating along the coastal belt from Ganjam to Balasore were brought back to shore. Senior IAS officers and ministers, including the deputy chief ministers, were deployed to oversee operations on the ground.
THE IMPACT
Ganjam and Gajapati bore the brunt of the weather system. Torrential rain damaged rural roads and caused waterlogging, while winds reportedly reached 80 kmph in parts of Gajapati. Trees were uprooted along stretches in Rayagada, Mohana, R Udayagiri and Gosani blocks. Water flowed over roads at Ramagiri-Udayagiri and Purunapani-Udayagiri, and a guard wall near Adava was damaged. In Gajapati, Mahendragiri (also reported as Mahendragarh) recorded the highest rainfall of 249.9 mm in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am, followed by Mohana with around 168-182 mm and Paralakhemundi with 140 mm. In Ganjam, the Ganjam block received 161.4 mm, with significant amounts also at Chhatrapur (154.6 mm), Digapahandi (139.5 mm) and Berhampur (around 131-132 mm). Other stations such as Pottangi in Koraput recorded 188 mm. Water was discharged from the overflowing Baghalati reservoir
A landslide occurred at Regidisingi in Gajapati’s Rayagada block, and fallen trees blocked roads at about 30 locations in the district, though fire services teams worked to clear them. Flooding in the Ghodahada River, fed by upstream rains, disrupted connectivity along National Highway 326 in Ganjam and inundated villages and agricultural fields.
Heavy rain and winds of up to 50 kmph also disrupted normal life in Bhubaneswar and Kataka, where trees were uprooted, a Gajalaxmi Puja pandal was damaged and air connectivity to southern Odisha was affected. Although flight operations at Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik International Airport remained largely unaffected, the cyclone forced the cancellation of Wednesday’s nine-seater service on the Bhubaneswar–Jeypore–Visakhapatnam route. Additionally, flights arriving from Chennai and Hyderabad were rerouted via Raipur to bypass the impacted Visakhapatnam airspace.
Large parts of Kataka, as well as Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur districts, experienced waterlogging. Tidal waves caused damage to agricultural land after a breach in a saline embankment in Mahakalapada and Rajnagar blocks of Kendrapada, while a 150-ft embankment of the Baitarani river caved in at Naranapur village in Jajpur’s Dasarathpur block.
Power infrastructure suffered extensive damage, with about 20 lakh consumers affected across eight districts; supply had been restored to 13 lakh, along with most of the affected 33-KV feeders, substations, 11-KV feeders and distribution transformers.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red warning for Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri till 8.30 am on October 29, forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places, along with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds of 60-80 kmph, gusting up to 90 kmph.
Even as Arnab’s impact continued, the IMD also indicated the possible formation of another low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal.