Cyclone Murasu Makes Landfall Near Ongole, Damaging Crops Across 15 Andhra Pradesh Districts

Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu made landfall near Ongole in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh between 3:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The India Meteorological Department recorded sustained winds of 100 to 110 km/h, gusting to 120 km/h, with a storm surge of about 1 to 1.5 metres above the astronomical tide.

This was the second cyclone to strike the Andhra coast in a week, following Cyclone Arnab near Kakinada. The landfall process began around 1 a.m. near Ongole, and by 3 a.m. the inner spiral band in the northern sector had touched land.

Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, told Reuters that no deaths or injuries had been reported in initial assessments. He confirmed that trees and electricity poles had been uprooted. The Press Trust of India reported extensive damage in Prakasam and Bapatla districts, including thousands of felled trees, hundreds of damaged power poles, wrecked fishing boats and inundated areas.

Preliminary official estimates put damaged crop area at 30,661 acres across 15 districts, affecting paddy, cotton and maize. Krishna, Bapatla and Nandyala recorded the heaviest losses. The cyclone had an abnormal impact across 132 mandals. Authorities evacuated 10,805 people to cyclone shelters, set up 171 relief camps and distributed 14,810 food packets.

Eleven National Disaster Response Force teams and 13 State Disaster Response Force teams were deployed. The government arranged 613 generators, and the Fire Department sent 185 teams to clear uprooted trees and address waterlogging. Across the state, preliminary impact assessments covered 1.75 lakh people from 44,651 households.

Rainfall was extremely heavy in coastal districts. Ponnur in Guntur district recorded 312.76 mm, and Guntur city recorded 298.36 mm. Prakasam district reported 99,899 people from 30,895 households affected across eight mandals and 27 villages. Bapatla reported 25,788 people affected, and Krishna reported 9,205.

Fishermen described the storm as the most dangerous in 14 years. Krishnamma of Kothapatnam in Prakasam said about 400 families from his village had been moved before the storm. Mangamma said one of her three boats was destroyed. Standing crops were hit and many low-lying areas remained underwater after the system moved inland.

Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and assured full central assistance. National and state disaster response teams were already on the ground. Vehicles were stranded on national highways due to poor visibility from heavy rain and gusty winds.

The IMD warned of continued heavy to very heavy rain across several districts through the day. Early assessments found 39 instances of inundation, of which 28 had been rectified, and 112 damaged electric poles. No human casualties, house damage or livestock losses had been confirmed in the initial report, though numbers may rise as assessments continue.

The system weakened after landfall as it moved further inland. Relief operations focused on restoring power, clearing roads and distributing supplies in the worst-hit coastal mandals.