Cyclone Murasu Crosses the Coast Near Ongole and Weakens Over Andhra Pradesh

Cyclone Murasu has made its landfall. The severe cyclonic storm crossed the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole, between 3:30 and 5:30 a.m. IST on Tuesday, November 3, near latitude 15.53°N and longitude 80.22°E, with sustained winds of 100–110 km/h gusting to 120 km/h, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. It is the outcome WorldEye's November 2 report was tracking, when the crossing was still a forecast for that same overnight window.

The landfall process itself began around 1:00 a.m. IST, the IMD said in its overnight press release, when the forward sector of the storm's wall cloud started entering the coast. At 1:30 a.m. the centre was still over the west-central Bay of Bengal, about 40 km southeast of Ongole, 60 km northeast of Kavali and 70 km south of Bapatla. By the IMD's 6:36 a.m. update, the eye had crossed and the storm was over land.

Rain picked up well ahead of the centre. Kothapatnam in Prakasam district had recorded 74.7 mm of rain by 1:00 a.m., while Ongole city had 18 mm, The Hindu reported. Gale-force winds of 100–110 km/h, gusting to 120 km/h, were expected to prevail along and off the coast until morning, and the IMD warned of a storm surge of 1–1.5 metres above the astronomical tide inundating low-lying areas of south coastal Andhra Pradesh, with the maximum peak surge over Bapatla, Krishna and Prakasam districts.

Early reports described hundreds of trees uprooted across Nellore, Prakasam and Bapatla districts and flooding in several low-lying areas, while electricity officials told a 3:30 a.m. review meeting with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that no power poles had fallen and supply had not been disrupted in the affected areas. At least 19 domestic flights had been cancelled at Vijayawada, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam airports on Monday ahead of the crossing.

Once ashore, Murasu slowed and began to lose strength, but gradually. At 8:30 a.m. IST the centre lay about 30 km north-northeast of Ongole, and the IMD expected it to weaken into a cyclonic storm by noon and further into a deep depression by midnight. At 11:30 a.m. it was still classed a severe cyclonic storm, about 50 km north of Ongole and 40 km west of Bapatla, with winds eased to 85–95 km/h gusting to 105 km/h, tracked continuously by the Doppler weather radars at Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam.

By the IMD's 2:10 p.m. hourly update, Murasu had weakened into a cyclonic storm: its centre at 1:30 p.m. was about 60 km north of Ongole and 40 km west-northwest of Bapatla, moving slowly north at about 6 km/h with winds of 80–90 km/h gusting to 100 km/h, and the department still expected a deep depression by midnight and a depression by Wednesday morning. Heavy rain continued meanwhile: between 8:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. alone, Konanki recorded 168.2 mm, Edlapadu 147.5 mm and Pasumarru 145.2 mm, and in the 24 hours to 8:30 a.m. Bapatla had received 22 cm of rain and Narsapuram 20 cm.

The storm's inland passage disrupted the region's rail spine. Train movement on the Vijayawada–Ongole–Gudur line was suspended because of gale-force winds at Karavadi station, Vijayawada Division of South Coast Railway said, with trains between Vijayawada and Chennai Central and between Vijayawada and Ongole among those cancelled, eleven long-distance trains diverted inland, and special trains later arranged between Kazipet and Vijayawada for stranded passengers.

The IMD kept its red cyclone warning for Andhra Pradesh and its rain warnings in force through Tuesday, even as the surge forecast was lowered and dropped by the 1:00 p.m. bulletin. The state's advice remained to stay indoors and off the roads until fallen obstructions are cleared — a warning with a recent edge: after Cyclone Arnab, which crossed this same coast a week earlier, at least five people died after touching fallen live wires, The Indian Express reported.

Murasu is the second cyclone to hit Andhra Pradesh in about a week, after Arnab's landfall in late October, and it formed over the Bay of Bengal only on Sunday, November 1. Its remnants are now a rain system rather than a wind system, moving slowly north over Andhra Pradesh with heavy rain also reaching into Telangana and Rayalaseema.

WorldEye's hurricane tracker follows the system's decay over land, and the weather radar shows the rain shield that is now the storm's main hazard. The official word remains the IMD's bulletins: the wind emergency at the coast has passed, but a weakening cyclone that drops more than 160 mm of rain in an afternoon is not finished being dangerous.