Kendrapada: In view of the impending Cyclone ‘Arnab’, the Kendrapada district administration has ordered the closure of all schools and Anganwadi centres on Wednesday. District Collector Raghuram R. Iyer issued the order on Tuesday.

The administration said the decision was taken to ensure the safety of children and students, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy rainfall, lightning and thunderstorms in the district.

The IMD has issued a yellow warning for Kendrapada, predicting heavy rainfall at one or two places under the influence of the approaching cyclone.

Earlier in the day, the district administrations of Cuttack, Puri, Khordha, Jagatsinghpur and Nayagarh also announced the closure of schools and Anganwadi centres on Wednesday as a precautionary measure.

According to the IMD’s latest bulletin, the very severe cyclonic storm ‘Arnab’ (pronounced ‘Ornab’) over the west-central Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards at a speed of 18 kmph during the six hours preceding the bulletin. At 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, the system was centred over the same region, about 140 km southeast of Kakinada, 170 km south of Visakhapatnam, 230 km east of Machilipatnam, 300 km east-northeast of Bapatla and 380 km south-southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha.

The cyclone is likely to move west-northwestwards for the next few hours before turning northwestwards and crossing the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to south of Yanam, by Wednesday forenoon.

The IMD has forecast maximum sustained wind speeds of 125–135 kmph, with gusts reaching 150 kmph, at the time of landfall.