Severe Cyclone Murasu Bears Down on India's East Coast: Landfall in Andhra Pradesh Tonight, Gusts to 120 km/h
India's Meteorological Department (IMD) said on November 2 that Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu is bearing down on India's east coast over the Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast between late on November 2 and the early hours of November 3 - one week after Cyclone Arnab battered the same state.
At 2:30 a.m. IST on November 2, Murasu was centred near latitude 13.6N and longitude 82.5E, about 260 km east-northeast of Chennai, 290 km east-southeast of Nellore and 330 km southeast of Ongole, having moved northwestwards at about 20 km/h over the previous six hours, with a central pressure of 986 hPa. The IMD expects the storm to cross the south Andhra coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole, between 11:30 p.m. on November 2 and 4:00 a.m. on November 3, as a severe cyclonic storm with sustained winds of 100-110 km/h gusting to 120 km/h.
The IMD has alerted 41 districts across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, southern Odisha and northeastern Tamil Nadu for heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge from November 2 to 4, with a red alert - the highest, for extremely heavy rainfall - in five coastal Andhra districts, Krishna, Guntur, Bapatla, Prakasam and Nellore, on November 2.
Preparations are under way. India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has dispatched three teams from its 4th Battalion near Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh. State health authorities have formed 1,688 medical teams and readied 116 relief centres, 13,165 emergency beds and 1,454 ambulances, and 493 women due to deliver between November 1 and 10 have been moved to health facilities in advance. Fishermen have been advised to stay ashore until November 4; IndiGo and Air India cancelled 12 flights from Vijayawada on November 1. Schools and colleges in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu were closed on November 2.
Southern Odisha is also bracing. Ravindranath Kahanra, additional district magistrate of Rayagada district, said the district held a virtual emergency review meeting on Sunday, deploying all 11 fire station teams and heavy machinery at strategic points; the district is under a yellow warning until November 2 and an orange warning for November 3 and 4.
Murasu formed over the Andaman Sea on October 29, was named as a cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal on November 1 and intensified into a severe cyclonic storm that evening. It is the second cyclone of the 2026 North Indian Ocean season; the first, Arnab, made landfall on the same stretch of coast on October 28 and caused extensive damage in Andhra Pradesh. The IMD bulletin is summarised at Cyclone Murasu to cross south Andhra Pradesh coast by November 3: IMD.
Related: Cyclone Arnab weakens after Andhra Pradesh landfall: more than 180,000 evacuated across two states
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：强气旋风暴「穆拉苏」11月2日逼近印度东南海岸的卫星云图，Suomi-NPP 卫星 VIIRS 成像仪拍摄。NASA Worldview 发布，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Satellite image of Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu approaching India's southeastern coast on November 2, taken by the VIIRS instrument aboard the Suomi-NPP satellite. NASA Worldview, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
