Cyclone Gulab has made landfall in coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, India Meteorological Department (IMD) tweeted on Sunday evening, with officials adding that it would cross the coasts between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Gopalpur in Odisha in the next three hours.

"The cloud bands have touched coastal regions and thus the landfall process has commenced over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining south coastal Odisha. System will cross coasts between Kalingapatnam and Gopalpur, about 25 km to north of Kalingapatnam, during the next three hours," the IMD tweeted.

The Indian Navy said on Sunday that it was closely monitoring the movement of Cyclone Gulab and kept naval ships and aircraft on standby for rescue and relief operations.

The Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam and naval officers in charge of Odisha have carried out preparatory activities to combat the effects of the cyclone, according to an official statement.

The Navy is in constant liaison with the state administrations for rendering assistance as required and closely monitoring the movement of the cyclonic storm, it said.

As part of the preparedness, flood relief teams and diving teams are prepositioned in Odisha and ready at Visakhapatnam to render immediate assistance, it added.

In the view of the cyclone, 13 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Odisha and five in Andhra Pradesh, Satya Narayan Pradhan, Director General of the relief force, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Rainfall activity started in Odisha's southern and coastal regions on Sunday morning in the wake of cyclone Gulab, the IMD said.

The Odisha government has deployed 168 specialised units in seven districts of the state where Cyclone Gulab is likely to make a severe impact following its landfall on Sunday midnight.

The units comprise teams from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and fire service. Another 25 units have been kept on alert. The state government has cancelled leaves of the officials and asked them to remain on high alert.

The cyclone is moving at 18km an hour, said the official. If its size is anything to go by, it is unlikely to be very severe. The system now has a diameter between 200km and 300km, said an IMD official. Cyclones Amphan and Yaas had a diameter of about 700km while at sea.

The Railways have cancelled, diverted or rescheduled trains travelling in the east coast route in view of the cyclone, it said in a tweet.

Officials said the Odisha government is working with a mission to achieve zero casualty and efforts would begin to evacuate people from the vulnerable areas.

However, it seems that conditions for the cyclone are favourable at this point. “There was scorching heat in Ganjam today making it conducive for the movement of the cyclone towards the coast. I have been witnessing such a climate before any cyclone sets in,” said Berhampur-based photojournalist Gopal Krishna Reddy.

Fishermen have been told not to venture into the sea. Many fishermen were seen bringing their boats from the sea to safe locations so that there would be no damage to them during the landfall of the cyclone.