Cyclone Arnab is bearing down on India's eastern coast, with the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha preparing to move thousands of people to safety.
The storm formed over the Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall in Andhra Pradesh by Wednesday morning with gusts of up to 140 kph, India's weather office said, adding that it will probably intensify further. Heavy to extremely heavy rain is forecast for Andhra Pradesh's northern and central coastal districts and southern parts of neighbouring Odisha.
A senior Andhra Pradesh disaster management official said the state had identified 570,000 people as vulnerable and that evacuations would begin on Monday evening. The state has ordered boats at sea to return to shore and called for swift restoration of power in case of outages.
Odisha's government has closed schools and colleges in five districts on Tuesday and Wednesday and is preparing to move residents of low-lying areas to cyclone shelters. The Bay of Bengal is one of the world's most active regions for tropical cyclones, and the next 48 hours are seen as critical for coastal communities.