Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said the State government was fully prepared to deal with the impact of Cyclone Arnab , which has been categorised as a red-alert weather system, and appealed to people not to panic but to follow safety instructions issued by the authorities.
“Winds with speeds of 125 to 135 kmph are likely during the landfall.
Yanam, near Kakinada, is among the areas where the cyclone is likely to cross the coast, according to the chief minister. I appeal to the people not to venture outdoors during the period of intense winds and rain,” he said.
Residents of coastal villages, islands, low-lying areas and other vulnerable settlements had been urged to move to designated cyclone shelters and avoid unnecessary travel. However, he stressed that the government was not taking the threat lightly and had activated emergency-response arrangements across the State. Control rooms have been established at both the State and district levels and are functioning round the clock.
Naidu said the state government had established 290 cyclone shelters and shifted 84,396 people to safer locations. He, however, said the Cyclone Arnab was currently expected to be less intense than Cyclone Hudhud, which caused extensive damage in Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Because of flooding, special arrangements have been made to use drones to deliver food and medicines to villages that may become inaccessible.
“The safety of people’s lives is the government’s foremost priority,” the chief minister said, adding that the administration was making every effort to prevent casualties and minimise damage to property. Naidu said the administration was taking precautionary measures to minimise loss of life and property. The government is issuing cyclone-warning bulletins every hour and continuously reviewing developments, the chief minister said. Naidu said the administration was working to ensure that essential services, particularly healthcare, drinking water and emergency communications, remained available during the storm.
