BHUBANESWAR, India - Authorities along India's eastern coast began moving residents from low-lying areas Monday as Cyclone Arnab strengthened over the Bay of Bengal and approached Andhra Pradesh with destructive winds, heavy rain and a dangerous storm surge.

The India Meteorological Department forecast the system to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm before crossing the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coast between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, near Yanam, on Wednesday morning. The official forecast called for sustained winds of 115 to 125 kph, with gusts reaching 140 kph, though the track and intensity could still change before landfall.

An Andhra Pradesh disaster-management official told Reuters that the state had identified about 570,000 vulnerable people and would begin evacuations Monday evening. Officials ordered fishing boats to return to shore and told power crews to prepare for rapid restoration work after the storm.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu directed evacuations across a long stretch of coastal and inland districts. The Indian Express reported that 4,711 pregnant women in vulnerable areas had already been moved to primary health centers, community clinics and hospitals before conditions deteriorated.

Educational institutions in affected Andhra Pradesh districts were ordered closed from Tuesday through Saturday. Seven National Disaster Response Force teams and eight state teams were deployed, with additional personnel held in reserve near Visakhapatnam and the NTR district.

Neighboring Odisha closed schools and colleges in five districts for Tuesday and Wednesday and prepared shelters for people living in exposed areas. The state also restricted fishing and tourist access to hills, waterfalls and dams in six southern districts expected to receive the heaviest rain.

Forecasters warned of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across northern and central coastal Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha. Storm surge and intense rain can be as dangerous as wind, especially where rivers, drainage channels and the sea converge across densely populated coastal plains.

Arnab formed quickly from a depression over warm Bay of Bengal waters. The region is one of the world's most cyclone-prone basins and has experienced disasters that killed large numbers of people. India has since invested heavily in forecasting, shelters, evacuation routes and community alerts.

Those systems were being tested before the first damaging winds arrived. Closing schools, moving medically vulnerable residents and recalling boats carry economic and social costs, but officials chose to absorb those costs rather than wait for certainty that arrives too late.

The success will be measured in lives, not headlines

A large evacuation can look excessive if a storm weakens or shifts offshore. That appearance is one of disaster management's cruelest incentives. When preparation works, the absence of tragedy can be misread as proof that warnings were exaggerated.

The opposite mistake is far more expensive. Cyclones do not need to strike a major city directly to kill. A slight track change can push water into a different river mouth, isolate villages or place the strongest winds over weaker housing. Families need time to move livestock, medicines, documents and children. Hospitals need time to protect power, oxygen and maternity care.

Moving thousands of pregnant women before landfall shows what serious planning looks like. It recognizes that vulnerability is not evenly distributed and that an evacuation order means little without transport, staffed facilities and safe destinations. The same principle applies to older residents, people with disabilities and fishing communities whose income depends on the sea.

India's cyclone response has improved because painful history forced governments to build institutions before the next emergency. Forecasts now trigger rehearsed action across district offices, emergency forces, utilities and schools. Technology matters, but administrative discipline turns a weather bulletin into saved lives.

There are still hard questions. Shelters must remain accessible and dignified. Relief supplies must reach people without political favoritism. Power restoration cannot focus only on wealthy urban districts. Officials must also communicate forecast uncertainty honestly, because confidence collapses when every update sounds more certain than the science permits.

Climate change is not proven by one cyclone, and Arnab's final intensity cannot be predicted perfectly. Warmer oceans and rising coastal exposure do, however, increase the importance of resilience, updated building standards and public systems able to respond repeatedly.

The storm's aftermath will reveal whether preparation reached the most remote villages, whether warnings were understood and whether residents could return safely. For now, the correct priority is simple: move early, keep boats ashore and treat every hour before landfall as an asset that cannot be recovered.

If Arnab passes with limited loss of life, the evacuation will not have been an overreaction. It will be evidence that government acted before nature removed the choice.