Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu is bearing down on the south Andhra Pradesh coast, and Cyclone Murasu landfall is expected tonight, in the overnight hours between 2 and 3 November 2026. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the storm will cross the coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole in Prakasam district, with sustained winds of 100 to 110 kilometres per hour and gusts reaching 120 kmph. It is the second cyclone to strike Andhra Pradesh in less than a week, and while it is weaker than the storm that came before it, officials have placed coastal districts on high alert for heavy rain, strong winds and flooding through 3 November.
The storm has moved steadily toward the coast since it formed in the Bay of Bengal on 1 November, and the IMD's bulletins have tracked it hour by hour as it gathered strength. For the millions of people living along the south Andhra coast — in Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna and Bapatla districts — the night of 2 November is the moment the storm makes landfall, and the hours around it are when the winds will be strongest and the rain heaviest. State authorities have opened shelters, moved people out of low-lying areas, and asked residents to stay indoors and away from the sea until the storm has passed inland and weakened.
Cyclone Murasu Landfall: When and Where It Will Cross the Coast
Cyclone Murasu landfall is forecast for the window from 23:30 IST on 2 November to 04:00 IST on 3 November 2026, according to the IMD's coastal bulletin issued at 18:26 IST on 1 November. The storm is expected to cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole in Prakasam district. That stretch of coast — a low-lying shoreline of fishing villages, paddy fields and small towns — is directly in the storm's path, and it is where the strongest winds and the heaviest rain will be felt first.
The landfall window is a forecast, not a single fixed minute, because a cyclone's exact crossing point and timing shift as it moves. The IMD's window of 23:30 IST on 2 November to 04:00 IST on 3 November covers the hours when the storm's centre is expected to move from the sea onto the land. Other reports have described the landfall more loosely as happening in the "morning of 3 November", which is shorthand for the same overnight window, since the window ends at 04:00 IST. What matters for people on the coast is that the worst of the storm arrives during the night, when it is dark and harder to move — which is why the authorities have asked residents in the most exposed areas to move to shelters before evening rather than waiting until the wind picks up.
At 18:26 IST on 1 November, the storm's centre was near 12.4 degrees north latitude and 84.6 degrees east longitude, about 480 to 550 kilometres east-southeast of Chennai and Nellore, according to the IMD bulletin. Earlier that day, at 05:30 IST, it had been near 11.5 degrees north and 86.4 degrees east, roughly 700 kilometres east-southeast of Chennai. The steady west-northwest movement toward the Andhra coast left no doubt about its destination, and the only questions were how strong it would be when it arrived and exactly where along the coast its centre would cross.
Cyclone Murasu Landfall Wind Speed and Rainfall
Cyclone Murasu landfall will bring sustained winds of 100 to 110 kilometres per hour, with gusts reaching 120 kmph, according to the latest IMD bulletins. That makes Murasu a severe cyclonic storm — a serious storm, capable of uprooting trees, tearing off roofs, bringing down power lines and flooding low-lying areas, but a step below the most destructive category of cyclone. The wind figure is the top of the range that matters most for safety planning: gusts of 120 kmph can turn loose objects into projectiles and can damage weak structures, which is why the authorities have warned people to stay indoors, secure anything that could blow away, and avoid travelling during the landfall hours.
Rainfall is likely to be as dangerous as the wind. The IMD and the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority have warned of heavy to extremely heavy rain over coastal Andhra Pradesh on 2 and 3 November, with the worst-hit districts expected to be Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna and Bapatla, along with parts of West Godavari. In a coastal plain that is already flat and criss-crossed by rivers and canals, that volume of rain in a short period can flood roads, fields and homes, and can cut off villages before the wind has even died down. The storm surge — the rise in sea level pushed ashore by the cyclone's winds — is an added risk for fishing villages and settlements right on the coast, and fishermen have been told to stay away from the sea.
It is worth being precise about the storm's strength. The latest IMD bulletins, issued on 1 November, put the winds at landfall at 100 to 110 kmph with gusts to 120 kmph, and all five major reports of the latest bulletins agree on that figure. The 100 to 110 kmph figure is the one to use. Murasu is a severe cyclonic storm — not a "very severe" one. That stronger label belonged to the previous storm, Cyclone Arnab, and using it for Murasu would overstate this storm's power.
How Cyclone Murasu Formed in the Bay of Bengal
Cyclone Murasu began as a deep depression over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal, and it intensified into a cyclonic storm at 11:30 IST on 1 November 2026, when the IMD gave it the name Murasu. The name means "drum" in Tamil and was contributed by India under the regional system in which countries around the North Indian Ocean take turns naming the storms that form in their shared waters. Once named, the storm kept strengthening as it moved over warm sea water, and the IMD forecast that it would very likely become a severe cyclonic storm over the west-central Bay of Bengal by the morning of 2 November — a forecast that was borne out as the storm approached the coast.
The speed of Murasu's development is part of what makes it notable. It went from a deep depression to a named storm and then to a severe cyclonic storm in the space of about a day, leaving the authorities with a short window to issue warnings, open shelters and move people. That is a familiar pattern in the Bay of Bengal, where warm water and favourable winds can spin a depression into a dangerous storm quickly, and it is why the IMD's round-the-clock bulletins matter so much in the hours before Cyclone Murasu landfall.
The timing is also significant. Murasu is the second cyclone to hit Andhra Pradesh in less than a week, arriving hard on the heels of Cyclone Arnab, which crossed the coast on 28 October. Two storms in a week strain the same districts, the same relief machinery and the same people — shelters that were used for Arnab are being used again, and families that had only just returned home are being asked to leave once more. The back-to-back storms are a reminder that the cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal does not deliver its threats one at a time.
Cyclone Murasu vs Cyclone Arnab: How the Two Storms Compare
The comparison with Cyclone Arnab, the storm that struck Andhra Pradesh just five days earlier, helps put Murasu in perspective — and it shows why the two storms should not be confused with each other. Arnab was a very severe cyclonic storm, one category stronger than Murasu. It crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to Yanam, during the hours of 02:00 to 08:00 IST on 28 October 2026, with sustained winds of 125 to 135 kmph and gusts reaching 150 kmph, according to the IMD's press release of 28 October. Murasu, by contrast, is a severe cyclonic storm with sustained winds of 100 to 110 kmph and gusts to 120 kmph, and Cyclone Murasu landfall is expected further south, between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole.
The numbers matter because they are easy to mix up. The figure of 150 kmph that was widely reported for Arnab was the gust figure — the strongest bursts of wind — not the sustained wind speed, which was 125 to 135 kmph. For Murasu, the gust figure is 120 kmph, and the sustained winds are 100 to 110 kmph. Murasu is therefore a weaker storm than Arnab, and its landfall is expected to cause less damage — but "weaker than Arnab" is not the same as harmless. A severe cyclonic storm with 110 kmph winds can still kill, especially through flooding, falling trees and storm surge, and the authorities have been clear that the lower wind speed is no reason to ignore the warnings.
The two storms also differ in where they hit. Arnab struck the coast between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, in the northern part of coastal Andhra Pradesh, while Murasu is striking further south, between Nellore and Narsapur. That means different districts are bearing the brunt this time: Nellore and Prakasam are at the centre of Murasu's path, while the districts hit hardest by Arnab are getting a second, lighter blow from the rain bands. For a full account of the earlier storm, see our report on Cyclone Arnab's landfall near Yanam with gusts to 150 kmph. The back-to-back storms have also put the region's disaster machinery to a severe test: the same officials, the same shelters and the same rescue teams are being called on twice in a single week, and the lessons from Arnab — which caused no reported deaths as of 28 October, though 22 trains were cancelled — are being applied immediately to Murasu.
Districts on Alert and What Residents Should Do
The districts on the highest alert for Cyclone Murasu landfall are Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna and Bapatla, along with parts of West Godavari, where the IMD has warned of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall on 2 and 3 November. Nellore and Prakasam sit closest to the forecast landfall point near Ongole, and they face the strongest winds as well as the heaviest rain. Guntur, Krishna and Bapatla lie to the north of the landfall point but are still within the storm's rain bands, and low-lying areas there are at risk of flooding. West Godavari, further north still, is on alert for heavy rain and localised flooding.
The Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority has asked residents in these districts to take straightforward precautions. People in low-lying and coastal areas should move to the shelters that have been opened, and should do so before dark on 2 November rather than waiting for the wind to rise. Everyone should stay indoors during the landfall hours, keep away from windows, and avoid travelling — roads may be blocked by fallen trees and flooded stretches, and driving through floodwater is one of the most common causes of death in cyclones. Loose objects outside homes should be tied down or brought inside, and mobile phones should be kept charged. Fishermen have been told not to venture into the sea, and boats have been moved to safe anchorage. The storm season has been active across the region this year — Australia's east coast was also hit by severe storms and flash flooding in October 2026 — but the advice in every case is the same: the hours of landfall are the hours to be indoors.
Power cuts are likely in the worst-hit areas, both from the wind bringing down lines and from the authorities switching off supply as a precaution. Hospitals, water pumping stations and shelters have been put on backup power, and repair crews are on standby to restore supply once the winds drop. The state government has also stocked food, water and medicines at shelters, and rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed to the coastal districts.
What Happens After Landfall
Once Cyclone Murasu landfall is complete, the storm will move inland and weaken, but the danger will not end with the wind. The rain bands will continue to bring heavy rain over coastal and interior Andhra Pradesh on 3 November, and rivers and canals could rise after the storm has passed. The IMD will keep issuing bulletins as the storm weakens into a deep depression and then a depression, and the state authorities will begin damage assessments once it is safe for teams to move. The first priority will be restoring power and clearing roads, followed by checking the damage to homes, crops and fishing boats — the three things that matter most to the coastal economy.
For the people of the south Andhra coast, the night of 2 November is the second such night in a week, and the hope is that the lessons of Arnab — early warnings, early evacuations, and a storm that, for all its strength, caused no reported deaths — will hold again for Murasu. The storm is weaker, the warnings are out, and the shelters are open. What remains is for everyone in its path to take the warnings seriously until the wind has dropped and the rain has stopped.