At Chennai airport on Monday, the departures board told the story before the sky did. Eleven flights were struck off, passengers were told to check with their airlines, and the reason was still hours out at sea. Severe Cyclone Murasu was closing in on the Andhra coast, and by nightfall the question was no longer whether it would arrive. It was where, and how hard it would hit.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has put the Cyclone Murasu landfall window between 11.30 pm on Monday, November 2, and 4 am on Tuesday, November 3. The storm is expected to cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole. At 5.30 pm on Monday, the IMD placed it about 80 km east-northeast of Nellore and 110 km southeast of Ongole, moving north-northwestwards at 12 kmph and under watch from Doppler weather radars at Chennai, Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam.
Cyclone Murasu landfall: the night, hour by hour
The headline numbers have barely moved all day, and that steadiness is itself the warning. The IMD expects sustained winds of 100-110 kmph at crossing, gusting to 120 kmph. That is weaker than Cyclone Arnab, which struck the same coast a week ago, but nobody in the state disaster machinery is treating that as good news. A weaker storm on saturated ground, swollen rivers and half-repaired embankments can still flood districts that held up last week.
Once ashore, Murasu is expected to weaken as it moves inland on November 3, according to the IMD. The rain, though, will outlast the wind. The department has warned of very heavy rainfall in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema on November 2 and 3, with isolated extremely heavy falls, and fishermen have been advised to stay off the sea until conditions ease. Our earlier preview of the storm, Cyclone Murasu: Andhra Braces for Second Storm in a Week, tracked it from a depression in the Bay of Bengal to the severe cyclonic storm it is now.
Flights grounded, classrooms shut
Air travel felt the storm first. Chennai airport cancelled 11 flights on Monday, five departing and six arriving, according to the airport operator. At Vijayawada airport, 10 IndiGo flights were cancelled, the airport authorities told ANI. The New Indian Express reported at least 19 domestic flights cancelled across Vijayawada, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, with four cancelled at Visakhapatnam and three at Tirupati. IndiGo also flagged disruption to its Visakhapatnam services. Anyone flying through the region on Tuesday should check flight status before leaving for the airport, because schedules will depend on how quickly the storm weakens after landfall.
On the ground, Chennai and Tiruvallur districts declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Monday as heavy rain moved in, and the IMD issued an orange alert for Chennai, where waterlogging was reported in parts of the city. The Andhra Pradesh government has activated its Mana Mitra WhatsApp helpline for disaster-related assistance as the storm approaches.
Why the second storm bites harder
Here is the detail that separates this cyclone from a routine weather warning. While Murasu was still at sea, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu met a central government assessment team in Andhra Pradesh on Monday to discuss Cyclone Arnab, Nation Press reported. The state government’s preliminary estimate puts Arnab’s damage at Rs 4,526 crore, and 7,000 workers have been deployed for power restoration alone. That is the bill from a storm that made landfall only on October 28. Now, before the assessment is even complete, the next storm is arriving on the same coastline.
It matters because the two storms overlap in the worst possible way. When Arnab came ashore, Cyclone Arnab Landfall Hits Andhra Coast, Rains On recorded more than 200 mm of rain in several districts and thousands of electricity poles down in Konaseema alone. Relief teams have spent the week clearing that damage. Murasu will test whether that work holds, and whether shelters, power lines and drainage can take a second battering within six days.
Five states, one wet week
Murasu is not an Andhra-only story. The Scroll reported heavy rainfall alerts across Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. Odisha has placed Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri districts on high alert, with gusty winds of 40 to 50 kmph expected in parts of Ganjam and Gajapati. Telangana has an orange alert for six districts and a yellow alert for five more, according to the Millennium Post. In other words, even districts far from the landfall point should expect a wet and disrupted Tuesday.
By Tuesday morning, Andhra will know whether Murasu kept its promised strength or fizzled at the coast. If you live between Nellore and Narsapur, tonight is not the night to wait and see what the morning brings. Charge the phone, keep the helpline number close, and stay off the roads once the wind picks up. The sea has already made its plans clear enough.