Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- Cyclone Arnab makes prolonged landfall along coast of Andhra Pradesh
- At least three killed in Andhra due to the storm
- New study says India among top countries with highest heatwave exposure for infants and elderly
- Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms makes market debut, shares surge over 21%
Here’s a roundup of the biggest news from India on Wednesday, October 28:
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Skip next section Cyclone Arnab turns deadly in Andhra Pradesh10/28/2026October 28, 2026
Cyclone Arnab turns deadly in Andhra Pradesh
At least three people were killed in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, local media cited authorities saying, as Cyclone Arnab made its way further inland after making landfall earlier today.
The storm lost some speed after a prolonged lanfall, downgrading it to a “severe cyclonic storm” from a “very severe cyclonic storm.” It is expected to further weaken into a “cyclonic storm” and turn into a “deep depression” by the evening, National Disaster Response Force Inspector General (IG) Narendra Singh Bundela told reporters in New Delhi.
“North of Andhra Pradesh and the southern part of Odisha have been the most affected due to Cyclone Arnab. Strong winds and rainfall are being witnessed in a few districts of the two states,” Bundela said.
“Andhra Pradesh has been the most affected… we have been informed that trees have been uprooted, 31 houses of various types have been damaged and three persons have been killed,” he said, adding that the impact on Odisha was not serious as per preliminary reports.
The IG said nearly 40 NDRF teams had been deployed to regions along India’s east coast to manage the impact of the cyclone.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OlP8Skip next section India faces high economic cost of heatwaves, new Lancet study shows10/28/2026October 28, 2026
India faces high economic cost of heatwaves, new Lancet study shows
India ranked among the top countries where the elderly and infants are most exposed to heatwaves, the latest Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report said, putting the nation in the same basket as China, US and Russia. But that’s not all.
As per the report, the economic cost is steep for the nation.
Extreme heat cost Indian workers an estimated $174 billion (€156.5 billion) in potential earnings in 2025. That’s 4.2% of the nation’s GDP. Moreover, 54% of the losses were from the agriculture sector.
“Increasing heat exposure is affecting health, physical activity, sleep and labor capacity in India, with substantial consequences for livelihoods, particularly in agriculture,” the report said.
Published by the presitigious British medical journal ahead of the COP 31 climate summit in November, the 10th edition of the report brought together 146 researchers from 30 countries to assess the impact of climate change on the health of the world’s population.
It said there were a record 710,000 heat-related deaths in 2023 with more than 70% of that toll linked to human-caused climate change.
The report called for climate change to be formally recognized and addressed as a global health emergency.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OlAzSkip next section Jio Platforms becomes second-most valuable firm on stock market debut10/28/2026October 28, 2026
Jio Platforms becomes second-most valuable firm on stock market debut
Shares of Jio Platforms, a Reliance Industries-backed digital services company owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, listed on the India stock exchanges with a premium of over 21%.
That instantly made the company the second most valuable on the exchanges.
Jio’s telecommunications business serves over 530 million customers and is backed by Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google. Its user numbers are second only to China Mobile on the basis of single-country subscribers.
The listing, the first for the Reliance conglomerate in two decades, furthers Ambani’s plan to turn Reliance from an oil-and-chemicals conglomerate into an “everything company” spanning consumer products and technology.
The listing was attended by the Ambani family, that is Mukesh Ambani himself, his wife Nita, eldest son Akash and other children Isha and Anant.
The family patriarch was seen in tears as his youngest son Anant traced Jio’s journey in a speech at the ceremony.
Meanwhile, major Indian newspapers on Wednesday carried front-page ads from Reliance Jio, saying “Thank you, India.”
India has become the world’s busiest IPO market this year in terms of the number of deals, with 246 listings so far, though it ranked fourth by money raised at $13.5 billion, behind the US, mainland China and Hong Kong, LSEG data showed.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5Ol92Skip next section High winds, storm surges as Arnab makes landfall10/28/2026October 28, 2026
High winds, storm surges as Arnab makes landfall
The center of cyclone Arnab had made it to land, authorities told local media on Wednesday morning, as it crawls further inland at 4 kilometers per hour (2.5 miles per hour).
Visuals on social media, from overnight and today morning, show high winds and storm surges. Heavy rainfall flew vertically as old trees struggled to stay upright. Many failed. Local news agencies ANI and PTI showed heavy rainfall and unruly sea water smash the coast of India’s southern state, Kerala.
Other footage circulating on social media showed lanes full of fallen trees and broken power lines. Other showed violent winds and heaping waves spill on to a coastal street. These videos were posted by general users and remain unverified.
Old videos of other storms tend to circulate on various channels in such situations. Users are best adviced to remain skeptical and take information provided by verified or government sources.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Ol5eSkip next section Cyclone Arnab batters Andhra Pradesh with drawn-out landfall10/28/2026October 28, 2026
Cyclone Arnab batters Andhra Pradesh with drawn-out landfall
“Very severe” Cyclone Arnab made a sooner-than-expected landfall along India’s east coast and is now “practically stationary” at the edge, authorities said.
The storm, with winds over 125 kilometers per hour (78 miles per hour) and gusts of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour), is in the third-highest category of storms on a scale of five.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said its landfall would last for over two hours and that the edge of the storm was already on the coast of the south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Its center remains over sea.
Power, transport disrupted
The cyclone brought heavy rains, high winds and disruption to Andhra and its neighboring state of Odisha. Gales rocked trees, winds and heavy rain disrupted power lines and the storm caused the sea to surge like many locals had never seen before. Flight and train services were also impacted.
“There was a cyclone here three years ago, but the water didn’t rise this much,” a 35-year-old local resident said, adding that the government had warned them to stock up on groceries beforehand.
The weather agency warned of “total destruction” of thatched houses, localized flooding, the uprooting of power and communications poles, and “widespread damage” to standing crops.
No casualties so far
No loss of life has been reported in either states as of Wednesday morning.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu credited advance precautionary measures for preventing casualties so far. He said so during a teleconference meeting to monitor the impact of the storm onground, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
Together, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha evacuated nearly 100,000 people from vulnerable regions in preperation of the storm. They were moved inland fro better shelter.
“Our homes get flooded, and we have to stay in the water,” said Rajeshwari, 65, who gave only one name and had been taken to a government-run shelter near Kakinada. “So the government provided us with a bus, and we came here to shelter,” she told AFP.
In Nepal, authorities warned tourists against venturing into high-altitude areas due to fears that Arnab could trigger torrential downpours, snowstorms and avalanches in the Himalayan region from Thursday night through Saturday.
Arnab formed on Monday morning in the Bay of Bengal, a region known for birthing some of the deadliest storms to batter India. This year’s season, however, is turbocharged by the El Nino weather phenomenon which is causing unprecedented warming, experts say.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5Ol4ASkip next section Welcome to our coverage10/28/2026October 28, 2026
Welcome to our coverage
Hello and welcome to DW’s India news blog!
This is Mahima Kapoor reporting from Studio Delhi and I will be your guide through everything going on across the country.
We start off with a severe storm threatning India’s east coast. Dubbed “Arnab,” the “very severe” cyclone is making a drawn-out landfall on the coast of the south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh. The high-speed winds and heavy rainfall has already disrupted schools, flights and power there. Thousands of people have been evacuated while the neighboring states remain on high alert.
Tropical cyclones aren’t the only extreme weather phenonemon on our minds today. A new study by The Lancet showed that India is among the top countries with he highest heatwave exposure to its vulnerable population, that is infants and the elderly.
Stepping away from weather, police authorities in India’s eastern metropolis city of Kolkata said over 50% of the security cameras at the site of a recent, deadly stampede were not working.
Here’s another number for you: Less than 28,000 residents of Delhi have filled forms at special camps to be reintroduced into the capital’s voter list. That’s after 475 million names were deleted from the city in the controversial revision of voter names.
Stay tuned for all of this and more.
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