Cyclone Murasu crossed the south Andhra Pradesh coast near Ongole early on Tuesday and weakened steadily as it moved inland. It left at least two people dead, about 52,500 hectares of crops affected and a preliminary loss of at least ₹344 crore, according to the state’s disaster-management authority. Its rain also nearly halved a seasonal deficit that has left much of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh under drought advisories.
For the second time in a week, the coast of Andhra Pradesh took the full force of a Bay of Bengal cyclone. And for the second time, the wind did less harm than the water.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu crossed the coast between Nellore and Narasapur, close to Ongole in Prakasam district, between 03:30 and 05:30 IST on 3 November. Some wire reports, citing IMD, said landfall began about 01:00 IST; the difference reflects how long a cyclone’s eye and wall cloud take to cross a coastline. “The severe cyclone Murasu crossed Andhra Pradesh coast with a wind speed of 100 to 110, gusting to 120 kmph,” IMD Director General Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told ANI.
A storm that faded but lingered
Murasu weakened quickly over land. IMD said it became a cyclonic storm by Tuesday afternoon, about 40 km west-north-west of Bapatla, crawling north-north-westwards at about 7 km/h. It was forecast to become a deep depression by midnight and a depression over north coastal Andhra Pradesh by Wednesday morning. Dr Mohapatra estimated the storm surge at landfall at 1–1.5 m over low-lying parts of Krishna, Bapatla and Prakasam districts.
A slow-moving system is the worst kind for rainfall, because it keeps raining on the same places. In the 24 hours to 08:30 IST on Tuesday, IMD recorded:
- Bapatla: 22 cm
- Narasapur: 20 cm
- Karamchedu: 16 cm
- Addanki: 15 cm
- Bhimavaram: 13 cm
In Prakasam district, Naguluppalapadu logged 198 mm, Kothapatnam 182.3 mm and Ongole Urban 174.7 mm, The Hans India reported. IMD’s Amaravati centre forecast further heavy rain on Wednesday over Bapatla, Guntur, Krishna, Palnadu, NTR, Eluru and West Godavari.
The toll
By Tuesday night, Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA), reported:
- Deaths: at least two, in cyclone-related incidents. The authority had reported no deaths in the morning. NSH could not verify from an official source who the victims were or where they died.
- Crops: 52,459 ha affected across 15 districts, with Krishna, Bapatla and Nandyal worst hit. The Hans India gives a breakdown totalling 52,740 ha: paddy 30,661 ha, cotton 21,474 ha and maize 605 ha.
- Shelter: 12,230 people in 171 relief camps; 3,066 pregnant women and 1,008 nursing mothers moved to hospitals.
- Infrastructure: 2,750 electricity poles and 312 houses damaged in 132 mandals.
- Loss: a preliminary estimate of at least ₹344 crore.
Rail traffic on the Vijayawada–Ongole–Gudur section was suspended for a time; PTI reported more than 35 trains cancelled. In Prakasam, seven substations were damaged and more than 80 animals died. The district collector expected power to be fully restored in Ongole by Wednesday morning. Andhra Pradesh deployed 11 NDRF and 13 SDRF teams, according to PTI; other reports give 14 NDRF teams, including three moved from Tamil Nadu.
The figures will change. Murasu’s formal damage assessment has not been completed, and the ₹344 crore estimate predates a full count of the flooded paddy.
Separate the two storms
Readers should keep Murasu’s numbers apart from those of Cyclone Arnab, which crossed near Narsapur on 28 October. On Tuesday the state sent the Centre an interim damage report of ₹4,526 crore. Deccan Chronicle reports that it reflects mainly Arnab’s damage: 3.52 lakh ha of agricultural crops, 23,211 ha of horticulture and about 31,000 fallen electricity poles. Some early reports attached the ₹4,526 crore figure to Murasu; that is not correct on present evidence.
The drought paradox
The most striking scientific point is the background against which both storms arrived. Until late October, Andhra Pradesh had a seasonal rainfall deficit of about 53%. After Arnab and Murasu it stands at 28.9%, according to state figures reported by IANS. The two storms have delivered in a week what weeks of normal rain would have done.
Telangana shows the contrast even more sharply. On Tuesday, as Murasu’s outer bands reached its eastern districts, the state’s Director of Public Health, Dr B. Ravinder Nayak, issued an advisory on El Niño-linked dry spells, heat stress and water shortages. A crop-loss survey is under way in 365 drought-hit mandals, 111 of them classed as severe. Aswaraopet in Bhadradri Kothagudem recorded 6.8 cm by Tuesday evening and Sathupalli 5.3 cm.
The two facts are consistent. El Niño years tend to weaken the south-west monsoon over much of India. But October to December, the north-east monsoon and post-monsoon season, is also the peak period for Bay of Bengal cyclones, which can bring extreme rain to the east coast in any year. A season can therefore be both too dry and too wet, in different months and different places.
Cyclone rain is a mixed blessing. It refills reservoirs and irrigation tanks: the state reports inflows of 7–8 TMC into reservoirs and up to 10 TMC into tanks. Rabi sowing, now well behind across India, could benefit. But the rain arrives in hours rather than weeks, much of it runs off, and it falls on kharif paddy that is ready for harvest. Flattened or submerged grain can sprout and discolour, cutting both yield and price.
What the second storm tested
Andhra Pradesh’s preparations were visibly better for Murasu than for Arnab. Pregnant women were moved to hospitals early, evacuations began a day before landfall and power crews came from Tamil Nadu. Two deaths in a severe cyclonic storm is a low toll by historical standards for this coast, though each one matters. The harder questions will come in the next week: how quickly drained fields can be harvested, whether compensation reaches tenant farmers, and whether the irrigation tanks hold.
