Photo: Vin09 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Andhra Pradesh is bracing for its second cyclone in less than a week. A weather system over the Bay of Bengal strengthened into a deep depression early on Sunday, November 1, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) expects it to become a cyclonic storm within hours. Once it does, it will be named Murasu, a Tamil word for drum and a name put forward by India.
According to the IMD’s latest outlook, the storm is likely to grow into a severe cyclonic storm over the west-central Bay of Bengal on November 2 and cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur by the morning of Tuesday, November 3, with sustained winds of 100 to 110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph.
Where the storm is now
At 5.30 am on Sunday, the system was centred over the southeast and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, roughly 700 km east-southeast of Chennai, 770 km from both Visakhapatnam and Machilipatnam, and 810 km east-southeast of Ongole. It had been moving west-northwest at about 23 kmph over the previous six hours, the weather office said.
IMD director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra had struck a more cautious note at a press briefing, saying the department’s main forecast was for a cyclonic storm with a slight chance of it turning severe. The bulletins issued since then point to the stronger outcome, noting that low wind shear and rising moisture favour further intensification.
At present, we expect this to form into a cyclonic storm. Once formed, it will be named as Murasu.
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, IMD director general
Heavy rain warnings across Andhra
The IMD has warned of extremely heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong surface winds over coastal Andhra Pradesh on November 2 and 3, and very heavy rain over Rayalaseema on the same days. The Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority said districts including Nellore, Prakasam, Bapatla, Guntur, Krishna, West Godavari, Eluru and Tirupati could see heavy to extremely heavy rain on Monday, with the wet spell spreading further on Tuesday.
Fishermen have been told not to go out to sea until Wednesday. In Nellore, the district collector asked people in low-lying and coastal areas to stay alert for three days from November 1, ordered officials to prepare to shift residents to safer places when needed, and set up a 24-hour control room at the collectorate.
Why it matters
The new storm comes while parts of the region are still recovering from Cyclone Arnab, which made landfall last week and caused widespread damage in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, including flooding in Odisha’s Ganjam district. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to speed up restoration work from Arnab while taking precautions against the approaching system.
Forecasters expect the storm to weaken after landfall and drop to a depression over interior Andhra Pradesh by November 4. Further IMD bulletins over the next 48 hours will fix the landfall point and intensity more precisely.
