Photo: VIIRS imagery from NOAA's NOAA-21 satellite / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
A day after Cyclone Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast, the worst of its damage has shifted inland. Around 300 villages in Odisha’s Ganjam district are cut off by flash floods, and water released from an Odisha dam has swamped the Andhra border town of Ichchapuram and its neighbouring villages, officials in both states said on Thursday.
Odisha plans airlift from Ganjam
Odisha Chief Secretary Anu Garg told reporters that Ganjam had been hit hard by three days of extremely heavy rain, with the state recording close to 546 mm in Patrapur block. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force have started rescue work, and the state is working with the Union Home Ministry to airlift people using an Indian Coast Guard helicopter.
About 120 people are to be flown out in the first phase, but Garg warned that low cloud and continuing rain could hold up flights. Officials named Sorada, where the Rushikulya river has overflowed, as among the worst-hit areas, while the river is close to its danger mark at Aska. Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena said most of the stranded villagers are in the Sanakhemundi and Aska blocks.
Border towns flooded, trains halted
Across the border, the Bahuda river swelled after Odisha released water from the Baghalati dam, sending floodwater into Ichchapuram and villages such as Loddaputti, Korigam and Rattakanna. Traffic on National Highway 16, the Chennai-Kolkata corridor, was disrupted. Srikakulam Collector Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar said the situation was under control and the water was receding, though local opposition leaders accused the government of poor coordination with Odisha.
Rail traffic also took a hit after a railway bridge between Ichchapuram and Jhadupudi went under water. South Coast Railway cancelled three Brahmapur-Visakhapatnam services, cut short several others and diverted long-distance trains via Vizianagaram and Titlagarh. A special train is running between Visakhapatnam and Palasa for stranded passengers.
Andhra counts its losses
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said five people died in the state, killed by falling trees and poles, electrocution and a wall collapse, and their families will get ₹5 lakh each. Separately, a junior lineman died in Vizianagaram district after falling from a pole during repair work. Naidu said winds touched 125-130 kmph with gusts near 150 kmph, Visakhapatnam got 218 mm of rain in a single day, and about 15,000 electricity poles were damaged.
His relief package includes rice and essentials for flooded households, ₹1,000 a person for those in relief camps (capped at ₹3,000 a family), ₹10,000 for partly damaged houses, ₹25,000 a hectare for paddy, cotton, groundnut and sugarcane, and set amounts for damaged boats, nets, livestock, shops and small businesses.
What happens next
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he had spoken to the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Odisha and Chhattisgarh and that inter-ministerial central teams would soon be sent to assess the damage. Naidu has already written to Shah seeking central assistance. The weather office says the system has weakened and is moving north-northwest, bringing rain to Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states. In Andhra, officials will verify crop losses before paying compensation, while Vizianagaram is preparing for municipal elections on November 1.
