Climate change increased Cyclone Arnab damage by 33 per cent, study says
The storm caused tens of millions of dollars in extra economic losses compared to a pre-industrial climate baseline, according to researchers.
A study by researchers at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute found that climate change increased the damage from tropical Cyclone Arnab by 33 per cent. The cyclone struck eastern India on October 28, causing significant economic losses that were tens of millions of dollars higher than they would have been under a pre-industrial climate, according to reports by The Hindu, The New Indian Express, and Deccan Chronicle.
The research, published on Thursday, November 5, 2026, estimated that human-induced climate change was responsible for roughly 25 per cent of the total economic damage. To reach these conclusions, researchers used the Imperial College Storm Model (IRIS) to compare current conditions, where temperatures are 1.3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, against a scenario without human-induced warming.
The cyclone brought peak 1-minute sustained winds of up to 202 kilometres per hour and intense rainfall. The study noted that climate change increased the maximum wind speed by about 5 per cent and raised the eyewall rainfall rate by 11 per cent at landfall.
The storm caused five deaths in north Andhra Pradesh and affected 17 districts in Odisha through flooding and crop damage. In Andhra Pradesh, the cyclone caused extensive damage to infrastructure, including paddy, aquaculture, and fishing assets in West Godavari.
Dr Nathan Sparks, a researcher at the Department of Physics at Imperial College London, said the findings serve as a reminder of the price of inaction. He stated that the costs of climate change are hitting coastal communities in eastern India today rather than being just hypothetical future projections.