Cyclone Murasu crosses Andhra coast near Ongole with 120 kmph gusts

Severe cyclonic storm Murasu crossed the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur near Ongole in the early hours of 3 November 2026. The India Meteorological Department reported the landfall process began around 1 a.m. and completed between 3.30 a.m. and 5.30 a.m. with sustained winds of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph.

At 5.30 a.m. the system lay centred over south coastal Andhra Pradesh near latitude 15.6°N and longitude 80.2°E, about 40 km southwest of Bapatla, 80 km north-northeast of Kavali and 120 km west-southwest of Machilipatnam. It moved north-northwestwards at 8 kmph. IMD said it would weaken into a cyclonic storm with winds of 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph by noon and further into a deep depression by midnight.

Prakasam, Bapatla, Palnadu and Guntur districts faced the strongest effects. Kothapatnam in Prakasam recorded 16.4 cm of rain between 8.30 a.m. on 2 November and 5 a.m. on 3 November, the highest in the state in that period. Naguluppalapadu received 11.4 cm and Chirala in Bapatla 10 cm. The storm uprooted trees, damaged electric poles and fishing boats, and caused waterlogging in several localities.

A storm surge of 1-1.5 metres above the astronomical tide was expected to inundate low-lying areas of south coastal Andhra Pradesh until Tuesday morning, with the peak over Bapatla, Krishna and Prakasam districts. At least 19 domestic flights were cancelled at Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati airports. IndiGo cancelled 10 flights and Air India Express two at Vijayawada alone.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and offered central assistance. The system remained under surveillance by Doppler Weather Radars at Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam. Heavy to very heavy rainfall was forecast at a few places in coastal Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, with extremely heavy showers at isolated locations.

The cyclone had developed in the west-central Bay of Bengal and moved towards the Andhra coast after earlier warnings of heavy rain and strong winds. No major power disruptions were reported in some accounts as the system completed its crossing, though localised outages occurred in the hardest-hit coastal belts. The IMD coastal bulletin for the region listed high to very high sea conditions in rain and thundershowers, with local cautionary signals at several ports.

Residents in coastal villages described damage to houses and boats as the wall cloud and spiral bands moved ashore. The forward sector of the wall cloud entered the coast while the system was still close to the shoreline. By mid-morning the storm had begun its gradual weakening over land. The full impact on crops, infrastructure and daily life in the affected districts will become clearer as assessments continue through the day.