बेबाक · Editorial
After Cyclone Arnab: The Coast Was Warned, but the Hills and the Ledger Still Need Fixing
Early warning and inter-state help limited the damage from Cyclone Arnab. Deadly landslides inland and a relief process still built on negotiation show where preparedness falls short.
What Arnab left behind
Cyclone Arnab arrived with warning. The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for Andhra Pradesh ahead of landfall, which was forecast between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. Some of the gravest losses came inland. In Odisha, a landslide killed three people, including an infant, and a fire services team rescued two others, the state's Panchayati Raj Minister told reporters. Near the Ganjam–Kandhamal border, preliminary reports say at least 12 people are missing after a landslide and flash flood swept through a village. That figure is not yet confirmed. Andhra Pradesh has put its damage at ₹4,600 crore and is seeking central aid.
Where preparedness stops
The core problem appears to be geographic. Coastal evacuation ahead of cyclones has become a familiar routine. The same discipline is less visible in the hills behind the coast, where a weakening storm can still do great harm. A cyclone dropping rain over steep, saturated slopes is a known hazard, not a surprise. The full account of what happened in Odisha's interior is not yet in, and heavy rain on such terrain can overwhelm even good planning. Still, the deaths and the reported disappearances raise hard questions about the last mile. Did village-level landslide warnings go out in time? Were vulnerable hamlets evacuated? Were rescue teams positioned inland before the rain? Those questions deserve answers. A cyclone does not stop at the coastline, and neither should the state's idea of preparedness.
The case for the system
The response deserves honest credit. Power supply was restored in seven Andhra Pradesh districts. The preliminary estimate of damage to power infrastructure there is ₹34.57 crore. Telangana's distribution companies, TG-NPDCL and TG-SPDCL, sent 2,077 personnel to help APEPDCL. Power has been restored in 5,277 of the 5,727 villages affected, and that is cooperative federalism working on the ground. Andhra Pradesh's WhatsApp Governance platform, Mana Mitra, resolved over 95 per cent of grievances during the cyclone, according to reports. A seven-member central team led by Ministry of Home Affairs Joint Secretary Chittaranjan Dash was to tour Andhra Pradesh's affected districts over a Saturday and Sunday to assess damage on the ground. In Odisha, the Chief Minister conducted an aerial survey of cyclone- and flood-hit areas in Ganjam and Gajapati. The President spoke with him to ask about the flood situation.
The numbers that must be tested
Several large claims now need scrutiny rather than applause. The ₹4,600 crore damage estimate is the state's own figure. Central teams exist precisely to assess such figures, and this team's findings should be published, not merely forwarded. Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister has said that 4.68 TMC of rainwater was diverted to reservoirs during the cyclone. He has also announced a ₹3,000 crore plan to modernise irrigation drains in the Godavari region, calling it a 'permanent solution' to crop inundation. The plan may well be sound, but that promise should be audited, not just repeated. The announced ₹5 lakh compensation to each bereaved family is welcome. It should reach those families on a fixed timeline and under fixed rules, whatever the local body election calendar.
The verdict
Arnab shows that warning systems save lives and that cooperation between states speeds recovery. Both are achievements worth defending. It also points to two weaknesses. Preparedness appears to thin out quickly away from the coast. And disaster finance still relies too much on requests and negotiation between state and Centre, when it should rest on transparent, published assessment. Field visits and high-level calls have their place, and they can speed attention to a crisis. But a family in a Gajapati hamlet should not have to wait for an aerial survey, a phone call or a political season before help arrives. Relief must be a right defined by rules, not a favour granted by sympathy.
A practical way forward
Four steps would help before the next storm. First, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh should map landslide-prone villages in cyclone-exposed hill districts, starting with Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal. Those villages should get pre-landfall evacuation protocols matching those used on the coast, with fire and rescue teams placed inland ahead of time. Second, the Ministry of Home Affairs should publish the central team's assessment along with a disbursal deadline. Third, the help Telangana's power utilities gave APEPDCL should become a standing mutual-aid agreement, not a one-off courtesy. Fourth, the Godavari drain programme should carry public, measurable targets on inundated acreage.
A cyclone does not stop at the coastline, and neither should the state's idea of preparedness.
What this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
An editorial is the considered opinion of the Aad Tak desk, argued from the sourced reporting above and written under our published persona, बेबाक. We name institutions, not parties. If we are wrong, we will say so. How we work →