Authorities in Andhra Pradesh are working on a war footing to restore normalcy across districts battered by Cyclone Arnab, with power, roads, and mobile communication networks being the primary focus, officials said on Friday, 30 October. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu conducted a high-level review of relief and restoration operations before undertaking a field visit to the severely affected West Godavari district.

Power Restoration: 93% Complete, Konaseema and West Godavari Lag

Within the jurisdiction of the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL), electricity has been restored to 4,881 out of 5,404 villages that experienced outages — approximately 93% of the affected area. Of the 552 substations that were hit, 513 have been brought back online, leaving 39 still to be restored.

Full restoration has been achieved in the Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Kakinada, and Eluru districts, according to officials. However, the situation remains critical in the Konaseema region, where power has reached only 87 out of 316 villages, and in West Godavari, where 154 out of 318 villages have been reconnected. Combined, 393 villages in these two districts are yet to have supply restored. In Krishna district, power has been brought back to 867 of 915 affected villages. Officials noted that restoration work has been accelerating with technical support drawn from other states.

Roads Cleared, Mobile Towers Partially Restored

On the transport front, 2,270 trees that had fallen across Roads and Buildings (R&B) department roads have been cleared. Konaseema district alone accounted for 1,334 of those removals. Connectivity has been restored at 119 out of 137 locations where traffic was disrupted, while 2,425.45 kilometres of R&B roads sustained damage due to the cyclone.

Mobile communication services are being progressively restored as well. Of the 1,045 affected mobile towers across service providers, 661 have been brought back online. The remaining 384 towers are still pending restoration, leaving several pockets without connectivity.

Agricultural and Water Resource Damage

The scale of agricultural damage is significant. Agricultural crops spanning 3,52,254 hectares across 16 districts have been inundated, while horticultural crops across 23,211 hectares have been affected. Temporary restoration work has been completed at 100 sites under the Water Resources Department, covering 78 tanks and 22 canals.

According to official estimates, the state received approximately 380 TMC of water due to rainfall between 26 and 29 October. Flood inflows are reportedly still continuing. Through water management measures, an additional 4.68 TMC has been stored in reservoirs, with the potential for another 5–6 TMC to be stored.

Chief Minister Naidu Reviews Operations on Ground

Chief Minister Naidu personally interacted with field-level staff during his review and instructed officials to maintain their commitment until relief reaches every affected individual and all pending issues are fully resolved. The administration has been deploying multiple departments simultaneously at the village level to accelerate relief delivery.

This comes amid a broader pattern of increasingly intense cyclonic activity along the Andhra coast, making post-disaster restoration a recurring governance challenge for the state. With flood inflows continuing and hundreds of villages still without power or mobile connectivity, the coming days will be critical for the administration's response.