India, Oct. 28 -- Odisha has evacuated more than 30,000 people to safety and placed its southern districts on high alert after the landfall of very severe cyclonic storm Arnab along the Andhra Pradesh-Yanam coast, a state minister said on Wednesday.

Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said the cyclone was expected to affect all southern districts, with Malkangiri likely to be the worst hit.

"The cyclone is presently within Andhra Pradesh, and it will later in the afternoon touch Odisha," Pujari said, adding that personnel and equipment had been mobilised at vulnerable locations and evacuations were continuing.

The government is focusing on Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts, where people fr...