Cyclone Murasu crosses India's Andhra Pradesh coast near Ongole, weakens inland

As of 7:24 a.m. ET, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026

Update (Nov. 3, 2026, 7:24 a.m. ET): This story has been updated with the India Meteorological Department's statement that Murasu crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast close to Ongole early Tuesday, India time, and has since weakened, and with National Disaster Response Force comments that no loss of life had been reported so far. Reporting from before landfall on Nov. 2 follows.

Murasu crosses the coast near Ongole

Cyclone Murasu crossed India's southeast coast early Tuesday, India time, and was weakening as it moved inland over Andhra Pradesh, the India Meteorological Department said. The severe cyclonic storm crossed the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole, between 3:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Tuesday India time (5 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET Monday), with sustained winds of 100 to 110 kph (about 62 to 68 mph) gusting to 120 kph (about 75 mph), the IMD said in a post on X.

By 2:30 p.m. India time Tuesday (4 a.m. ET), Murasu had weakened into a cyclonic storm and was centered about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Ongole and 40 kilometers (25 miles) west-northwest of Bapatla, with maximum sustained winds of 80 to 90 kph (about 50 to 56 mph) gusting to 100 kph (about 62 mph), the IMD said in a later update. The agency said the storm was very likely to keep moving north-northwest and weaken into a deep depression, with winds of 55 to 65 kph (about 34 to 40 mph) gusting to 75 kph (about 47 mph), by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday India time (1 p.m. ET).

No loss of life reported so far, NDRF says

No loss of life from the cyclone had been reported in Andhra Pradesh so far, Mohsen Shahedi, a deputy inspector general of the National Disaster Response Force, said Tuesday. "As per the information available with us so far, there has been no loss of life," Shahedi said in video remarks posted by the Press Trust of India and shared by the NDRF on X. He said the worst-affected districts were Prakasam, Krishna, Guntur and Nellore, where very heavy rain had been reported, and that the state administration had moved about 10,000 people into relief shelters.

At a briefing in Amaravati, Shahedi said the NDRF had deployed 14 teams in Andhra Pradesh, the state he described as the "most affected," and 38 teams across five states, PTI reported. He said about 175,000 people in coastal Andhra Pradesh had been affected by the cyclone and that about 10,000 people were staying in 171 relief shelters, according to the report.

Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, said no deaths or injuries had been reported so far and that some trees and electricity poles had been uprooted, Al Jazeera reported, citing his comments to Reuters.

Officials described these figures as the information available so far. The full extent of damage to homes, crops, boats and power lines in Andhra Pradesh had not been confirmed by officials in the sources reviewed for this report.

Before landfall, Nov. 2

Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu was closing in on India's southeast coast on Monday, and authorities in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha were moving people out of vulnerable areas ahead of a landfall forecast for overnight, local time.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in an update Monday that the storm was very likely to move northwest and cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast as a severe cyclonic storm, with sustained winds of 100 to 110 kph (about 62 to 68 mph) gusting to 120 kph (about 75 mph). It forecast the crossing between Nellore and Narsapur, to the south of Ongole, from about 11:30 p.m. Monday to 4 a.m. Tuesday India time. That is about 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET Monday.

That forecast was issued before landfall. The IMD later said the storm crossed the coast close to Ongole between 3:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Tuesday India time, as described above.

Where the storm was before landfall

At 2:30 p.m. India time Monday (4 a.m. ET), Murasu was centered over the west-central Bay of Bengal about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Nellore, 160 kilometers north-northeast of Chennai and 160 kilometers southeast of Ongole, the IMD said in a post on X. It had slowed, moving nearly northwest at about 10 kph over the previous six hours. Doppler weather radars at Chennai, Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam are tracking it, the agency said.

The IMD upgraded Murasu to a severe cyclonic storm early Monday, India time, and has issued a "Red Message" cyclone warning for the Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts. In an earlier advisory, the agency said storm surge of about 1 to 1.5 meters (3 to 5 feet) above the astronomical tide could flood low-lying coastal areas, with the highest surge expected over the Bapatla, Krishna and Prakasam districts.

Evacuations in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha

"Around 2,000 people have been evacuated, and the process is continuing. We are planning to evacuate some 30,000 people," Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, told Reuters on Monday, in a report by Jatindra Dash.

In neighboring Odisha, the state government sped up evacuations from vulnerable areas on Monday, officials told the Press Trust of India, according to a PTI report. Southern Odisha is expected to get heavy rain even though landfall is forecast in Andhra Pradesh, PTI reported.

The National Disaster Response Force sent three teams from its 4th Battalion near Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh, ANI reported, citing the NDRF. India Today reported that six NDRF and seven state disaster response teams had been deployed in Andhra Pradesh after a review by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and that schools in Chennai were closed Monday.

No deaths or injuries from Murasu had been reported by officials as of Monday, before landfall.

Second storm in a week

Murasu follows Cyclone Arnab, which struck the same coast last week. Reuters reported that Murasu is expected to be less intense than Arnab.