Cyclone Arnab: central team tours Andhra; loss put at Rs 4,764 crore

A seven-member Inter-Ministerial Central Team began touring the districts of Andhra Pradesh hit by Cyclone Arnab on Saturday, October 31, 2026, as the state put its preliminary estimate of the damage at Rs 4,764 crore across 12 districts. The team, led by a joint secretary of the Union Home Ministry, is visiting Konaseema, Kakinada, East Godavari and West Godavari districts over two days and will meet farmers in the field before reporting to the Centre. According to the state's figures, crops of 4.63 lakh farmers were damaged on 3.52 lakh hectares. A separate central team from the Agriculture Ministry is due to examine drought in four Rayalaseema districts on November 2 and 3.

Cyclone Arnab made landfall near Yanam and Kakinada in late October, flooding paddy fields in the Godavari delta just as the kharif crop was ready or nearly ready for harvest. The timing made the losses heavier: a crop lost close to harvest takes with it the full season's investment in seed, fertiliser, labour and irrigation.

The central team's visit is the formal step that decides how much help the state gets from the Centre. Under India's disaster relief system, a state facing a severe disaster submits a memorandum of its losses; an inter-ministerial team then checks the damage on the ground, and its report is the basis on which the Centre releases additional funds. The difference between the state's estimate and what the team verifies often determines how much farmers finally receive as input subsidy and how quickly. That is why the team's field-level meetings with farmers matter: they test the state's numbers against what growers say they lost.

The two visits together also show the strain on Andhra Pradesh's farm economy this season. Coastal districts were flooded by a cyclone while Rayalaseema districts in the south-west are being assessed for drought. That means relief needs at both ends of the weather spectrum in the same season.

Short-term: The team's report will feed into the Centre's decision on additional assistance for Andhra Pradesh. Farmers in the delta districts are waiting for crop-loss enumeration to be completed so that input subsidy and any insurance claims can be processed. The state has indicated its own figure may still go up.

Long-term: Repeated losses from cyclones on the coast and drought in the interior raise the case for stronger crop insurance coverage, faster harvesting and drying support in cyclone season, and storage that keeps harvested grain safe from rain. The delta's farmers will also be looking at whether they can plant the next crop on time once fields drain.

Who is affected: About 4.63 lakh farmers whose crops were damaged, according to the state; farm labourers and rice millers in the Godavari delta; households in Konaseema and West Godavari dealing with wider damage, including to power infrastructure; farmers in the four Rayalaseema districts awaiting the drought assessment; and the state government, which is seeking central help.

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