Nov. 3 — Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu slammed into the southern coastal belt of India’s Andhra Pradesh state early Tuesday, triggering torrential downpours and gale-force gusts up to 120 km/h as its center commenced landfall near Ongole in Prakasam district.
According to a midnight bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the landfall process began around 1:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday. Positioned over the west-central Bay of Bengal adjacent to the south Andhra Pradesh coastline, the system lay approximately 40 kilometers southeast of Ongole, 60 kilometers northeast of Kavali, and 70 kilometers south of Bapatla by 1:30 a.m.
The national weather agency warned that the storm will continue crossing the coast between Nellore and Narasapur, near Ongole, maintaining wind speeds between 110 and 120 km/h with gusts reaching 130 km/h along the coastal districts through Tuesday morning. Heavy to very heavy rainfall, with isolated extremely heavy falls, is forecast across south coastal Andhra Pradesh over the next 12 hours.
Meteorologists have also sounded alarms over storm surges expected to rise 1.0 to 1.5 meters above astronomical tide levels, threatening widespread inundation of low-lying coastal belts through Wednesday morning. The IMD identified Bapatla, Krishna, and Prakasam districts as the most vulnerable zones to coastal inundation and seawater intrusion.
State authorities and emergency response agencies remain on high alert, evacuating residents from vulnerable low-lying settlements and positioning disaster relief personnel across the impacted coastal corridor.
Source: India Meteorological Department (IMD) Bulletins & NDTV Field Dispatches