Panchkula, Oct. 27 -- Very severe cyclonic storm Arnab is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts on Wednesday morning with winds gusting up to 140 kmph, while the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has separately issued heavy rainfall and thunderstorm warnings for several eastern, southern and northern states.

According to the IMD's 9:32 a.m. bulletin on Tuesday, the cyclone moved nearly westward at 22 km/h during the preceding six hours and was centred over the west-central Bay of Bengal at 5:30 a.m., approximately 260 km southeast of Visakhapatnam, 300 km east-southeast of Kakinada and 390 km east of Machilipatnam.

The weather department said the system was likely to move west-northwestwards until Tuesday evening before ...