Overview
- The cyclone made landfall on Wednesday morning between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam near Yanam with sustained winds of about 125–135 kmph and gusts up to 150 kmph, according to the India Meteorological Department.
- IMD reported the system weakened from a very severe to a severe cyclonic storm after crossing the coast and forecast it would further weaken to a cyclonic storm and then a deep depression over the next 12–24 hours.
- State authorities evacuated large numbers of people before landfall, moving roughly 84,000–150,000 residents into more than 2,000 cyclone shelters and setting up thousands of control rooms and relief centres.
- The storm caused heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, uprooted trees, damaged electricity poles and towers, flooded low-lying areas, and disrupted flights and dozens of train services across coastal districts.
- Central and state response teams including NDRF, SDRF, Navy, Coast Guard, Army and thousands of power and medical personnel are on the ground clearing debris, restoring services and assessing crop and infrastructure losses that officials say could be extensive.