Cyclone Murasu was expected to strengthen into a severe cyclonic storm by Monday morning and cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur between 11:30 PM Monday and 4 AM Tuesday, November 3, IMD said in its Sunday evening bulletin. At 2:30 PM Sunday it was about 550 km from Nellore and 560 km from Machilipatnam. Winds at landfall: 100–110 km/h, gusting to 120 km/h. A storm surge of about 1 metre could flood low-lying parts of Bapatla, Krishna and Prakasam districts.
Preparations
- Six NDRF and seven SDRF teams are deployed. Helplines: 112 and 1070 (All India Radio).
- 116 relief camps, 1,688 medical teams, 13,165 emergency beds and 733 ambulances (108 service) are ready. Officials identified 6,870 pregnant women due between November 1 and 10 and have moved 493 to hospitals (The South First).
- Between 12,102 and 15,128 power poles across 12 districts could be damaged, officials estimate.
- Krishna, Guntur and Bapatla are under a red alert (The Week).
Rain, fishing and crops
Twenty mandals could see extremely heavy rain: nine in Eluru, five in Krishna, five in NTR and one in Bapatla, with Eluru averaging about 179 mm on Tuesday. IMD has told fishermen to stay off the AP coast from Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon, November 4. ETV Bharat, citing IMD, warned of damage to thatched houses, power poles and banana, papaya and coconut crops. In Telangana, Khammam, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool and Wanaparthy are on orange alert on Monday, with isolated extremely heavy rain possible on Tuesday.
Cyclone Arnab, which crossed near Narsapur on October 28, caused an estimated ₹4,764 crore in losses across 12 districts, according to the state's preliminary assessment, and killed seven people. A seven-member central team led by MHA Joint Secretary Chittaranjan Das is assessing the damage.
