Cyclone Arnab: NCMC Reviews Andhra Pradesh Landfall Plans

Cabinet Secretary Dr. T. V. Somanathan took the chair of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) on 26 October 2026 to go over how ready the Centre and the coastal States were for a cyclone building up in the Bay of Bengal. The storm has been named Arnab.

Where the storm stood

The Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) told the Committee that a deep depression over the east-central Bay of Bengal had tracked almost due west and strengthened into a cyclonic storm. At the morning observation on the day of the meeting its centre lay about 590 km north-west of Sri Vijaya Puram in the Andaman Islands, roughly 650 km east-south-east of Visakhapatnam, about 730 km east-south-east of Kakinada, some 830 km east of Machilipatnam and nearly 910 km east of Bapatla.

The forecast track

The IMD expects the system to move west-north-westwards until 27 October and then turn north-westwards towards the Andhra Pradesh coast. Landfall is likely between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, across the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts, by the forenoon of 28 October 2026, and by then it is expected to have grown into a very severe cyclonic storm with sustained winds of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph. After crossing the coast it is likely to affect districts in Telangana, southern Odisha and south and central Chhattisgarh, and to bring heavy rain to eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as well.

What the States have done

Chief Secretaries and senior officers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and the Union Territory of Puducherry briefed the Committee. Shelters and evacuation arrangements are in place, teams of the NDRF and the State Disaster Response Force are on standby, and district control rooms have been activated. Fishermen have been told to stay off the sea from 26 to 29 October, and those already out have come back.

Central agencies

The National Disaster Response Force has deployed teams and held others in reserve. Rescue and relief parties of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard are ready with their ships and aircraft, and the Coast Guard has guided boats back to harbour. The Union Home Secretary said the Ministry of Home Affairs, the NDMA and the IMD are watching the system continuously. The Cabinet Secretary set the goal as zero loss of life, with damage to property and infrastructure kept to a minimum and essential services restored quickly if they fail. He also asked that eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar be alerted because of the heavy rain expected there.