Cyclone Arnab Highlights Climate Risks to India's Growing Data Center Sector

Cyclone Arnab made landfall in eastern India on Wednesday, bringing powerful winds and heavy rain that killed three people, inundated approximately 200,000 acres of cropland, and caused widespread power outages and blocked roads. While wind speeds have since weakened, heavy rainfall remains a significant threat to inland areas. Meteorologists attribute the cyclone's rapid strengthening to unusually high sea surface temperatures in the Bay of Bengal, exacerbated by a warming global climate.

The cyclone's path over a region slated for billions of dollars in data center investments highlights the growing threat extreme weather poses to critical infrastructure. Climate experts emphasize that the increased frequency and intensity of such events, amplified by human-caused climate change, challenge both existing livelihoods and future economic development.

This event follows India's weakest southwest monsoon since 2015, a season impacted by a strong El Niño and a warming climate, leading to sparse rainfall and drought conditions in many states. The uneven distribution of rainfall, with intense downpours falling on hardened, dry ground, offers little relief and can exacerbate flooding.

India is among the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, having suffered an estimated $170 billion in losses from 1995 to 2024 due to extreme weather. Past events, such as the 360 days of extreme weather in 2025 which killed 4,421 people and affected 17.41 million hectares of cropland, demonstrate the devastating toll. Beyond direct damage to crops, homes, and roads, extreme weather events disrupt transportation, electricity, and logistics, leading to significant indirect economic costs and cascading disruptions in supply chains and services.

These indirect costs are particularly concerning for India's ambitious data center expansion plans. Cities like Visakhapatnam are set to receive substantial investment for hyperscale data centers, yet a 2025 assessment projected that over 10% of Indian data centers could face high risks of damage from climate change by 2050 under a high-emissions scenario. The analysis also indicated that structural adaptations could significantly reduce these risks.

Experts warn that facilities like data centers face overlapping threats from flooding, extreme heat, unreliable electricity, and water scarcity. Planning based solely on historical weather patterns may underestimate the escalating risks posed by climate change. Infrastructure planning must therefore incorporate future climate projections, necessitating strengthened electricity grids, flood-proofed infrastructure, and improved crop insurance. Businesses also require robust continuity plans that account for the possibility of multiple, simultaneous failures, such as a cyclone followed by power outages and transport disruptions.

While forecasting for large weather systems has improved, predicting localized thunderstorms and flash floods remains challenging, creating dangerous protection gaps. Experts advocate for predictable, grant-based adaptation finance and streamlined access to UN loss and damage funding at upcoming global climate talks to ensure climate finance reaches frontline communities before losses become irreversible.