Cyclone Arnab Begins Landfall Near Yanam as Three Andhra Airports Shut Down

Since India's weather office forecast on Oct. 26 that Cyclone Arnab would hit Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, the storm has started coming ashore and air travel across the coast has been shut down.

The India Meteorological Department said the very severe cyclonic storm began its landfall process early Wednesday along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts, near Kakinada. Its core winds are 125 to 135 kmph, with gusts up to 150 kmph.

"Landfall process will continue for the next 3 hours," the IMD said in its hourly bulletin. Officials expect the process to finish by 4 AM local time, though rain and strong winds will continue after that.

Storm still moving slowly

The IMD said Arnab had moved northwestwards at just 3 kmph over the previous three hours. It is expected to keep crawling northwestwards before turning north-northwestwards.

A slow-moving storm means a longer stretch of wind and rain over the same ground.

The Washington Post had described the system as roughly equal to a Category 2 or 3 hurricane. It noted the storm could weaken to a Category 1 equivalent before landfall but would still bring serious wind and surge impacts to a densely populated area with vulnerable infrastructure.

AP reported that India has evacuated tens of thousands of people as the storm approached.

First damage reports

Disaster management officials reported uprooted trees along National Highway 216 near the Yanam entrance. In Visakhapatnam, a tree came down near the AU College of Engineering for Women. Heavy rain and gusty winds also lashed Digha in West Bengal.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is receiving continuous updates from officials, according to his office. Officials have not announced casualty figures or a damage assessment.

Airports go dark

The Ministry of Civil Aviation reviewed readiness Tuesday, Oct. 27, with the Airports Authority of India, the DGCA, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the IMD, airlines, airport operators, the National Disaster Response Force and the disaster authorities of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.

The ministry said operations at Visakhapatnam airport were suspended from Tuesday afternoon. Flights at Vijayawada and Rajahmundry were suspended after 7 p.m. The Delhi–Bhogapuram–Delhi service is cancelled for Wednesday.

The ministry said flights to and from coastal Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha, including Bhubaneswar, will be hit hardest. Hyderabad, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur could see knock-on delays depending on the storm's track.

Airline cancellations, per the ministry's statement:

• Air India: six cancellations on the Delhi–Visakhapatnam–Delhi route on Oct. 27 and the Delhi–Vijayawada–Delhi route on Oct. 28.
• Air India Express: 13 cancellations, mostly Visakhapatnam services to and from Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Vijayawada.
• IndiGo: all Visakhapatnam flights suspended, plus Vijayawada and Rajahmundry after 7 p.m. Tuesday. The ministry called its cancellation figures provisional.
• Akasa Air: Delhi–Bhogapuram flights for Oct. 28 cancelled.
• Alliance Air: operating normally with no cancellations reported at the time of the statement.

Disruption on the ground

At Vijayawada, IndiGo cancelled arrivals from Chennai, Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Kurnool, along with departures to Mumbai and Bengaluru. An Air India flight from Delhi was also cancelled.

At Bhogapuram airport in Vizianagaram district, IndiGo alone cancelled 10 flights Tuesday. Air India and Air India Express services to Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Tirupati, Kolkata and Kurnool were also scrapped.

Rajahmundry, which handles about 12 arrivals and departures a day, ran normally until 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. As winds picked up that evening, airport authorities cancelled three arrivals from Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

An IndiGo ATR bound for Bhogapuram turned back to Tirupati. Tirupati airport director D. Bhoomi Nathan said the aircraft, carrying roughly 40 to 50 passengers, reached Bhogapuram about 1:30 p.m. but could not land safely.

AAI chairman Puneet Kansal chaired a meeting with regional executive directors and airport directors from Kolkata, Chennai, Tirupati, Raipur, Kadapa, Bhubaneswar, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Jharsuguda to assess possible disruption.

What passengers are being told

The ministry told airlines to follow adverse-weather guidelines, notify passengers of delays and cancellations, and comply with rebooking and refund rules. Passengers should check flight status with their airline before leaving for the airport and not travel unless their flight is confirmed.

The ministry also warned of waterlogging and road closures in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, and told travelers to allow extra time.

No date has been announced for reopening the three suspended airports. That decision depends on how quickly the storm clears the coast and what the IMD's next bulletins show about its track toward the north-northwest.