Cyclone Arnab: Landfall expected before midnight tomorrow as IMD issues orange alerts across six states
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Cyclone Arnab: Landfall expected before midnight tomorrow as IMD issues orange alerts across six states")
IMD nowcast places 11 districts of Andhra Pradesh under an orange alert.
Fishermen across West Bengal, Odisha and Bangladesh have been told to stay ashore until Friday, and Odisha has closed schools in several districts. Odisha Chief Secretary Anu Garg said the IMD had only indicated the system “could intensify into a deep depression, but not a cyclone.”
A deep depression bearing down on the Bay of Bengal coast is on track to cross the north Andhra Pradesh–south Odisha coast by the night of September 23, the India Meteorological Department said, as orange alerts went up across six states and red alerts remained active in two Andhra districts.
The IMD placed the depression near latitude 17.9°N and longitude 85.8°E — about 180 km south-southeast of Gopalpur, 180 km east-southeast of Kalingapatnam, 210 km south of Puri, and 270 km east of Visakhapatnam. The system had slowed to 8 kmph over the previous six hours, down from 18 kmph earlier in the day. The IMD said it "is very likely to move west-northwestwards & intensify into a deep depression" over the next 12 hours before crossing the coast between Visakhapatnam and Gopalpur by the night of September 23, effectively confirming landfall before midnight tomorrow.
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A district-wise IMD nowcast issued at 10 pm, valid through 1 am on September 23, placed eleven districts of coastal and northern Andhra Pradesh, including Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Kakinada and East and West Godavari, under an orange alert for thunderstorms, lightning, gusty winds of 40–60 kmph and moderate to intense rain of 5–15 mm/hour.
Eleven Odisha districts, among them Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Kalahandi and Balangir, were placed under the same warning level. The nowcast's reach extended well beyond the immediate cyclone belt, with orange alerts also issued for districts in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Maharashtra, including Pune, Raigad and Thane — underlining how far this weather system's influence is being felt inland.
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No district was placed under the more severe red warning in this nowcast window, though red alerts issued earlier in the day for Srikakulam and Vizianagaram remain in force. The IMD's advisory urged people to stay alert, avoid sheltering under trees or weak structures, and steer clear of flood- or landslide-prone areas.
The system has not yet been officially classified as a cyclone; that designation requires sustained winds of at least 63 kmph, and the depression remains below that mark. Should it cross the threshold, it will be named Arnab, the first cyclone in the North Indian Ocean since Cyclone Ditwah killed more than 600 people across Sri Lanka and India in November 2025.
Fishermen across West Bengal, Odisha and Bangladesh have been told to stay ashore until Friday, and Odisha has closed schools in several districts. Odisha Chief Secretary Anu Garg said the IMD had only indicated the system "could intensify into a deep depression, but not a cyclone," even as she confirmed emergency personnel remain on standby.
