Cyclone Murasu closed in on the south Andhra Pradesh coast on Sunday evening, and the preparations moved from warnings to closures. In its latest update, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) placed the cyclonic storm about 350 km east of Chennai, 400 km east-southeast of Nellore, 430 km southeast of Machilipatnam, 420 km east-southeast of Kavali, 450 km southeast of Ongole and 520 km south of Visakhapatnam.
Source: IMD via News4Exchange
The IMD's 5.30 p.m. bulletin on Sunday put the storm at latitude 12.7 degrees North and longitude 84.1 degrees East over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal, moving west-northwestwards at 25 kmph. It is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by the morning of Monday, November 2, and cross the south Andhra coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole, between 11.30 p.m. on November 2 and 4 a.m. on November 3, with sustained winds of 100 to 110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph.
Source: Mint via BlazeTrends
In Tamil Nadu, the Chennai District Collector declared a holiday for all schools in Chennai district on Monday, November 2, citing the heavy rainfall forecast and the risk of waterlogging, and a holiday was also declared in Tiruvallur district, where District Collector Kavitha announced the closure. Reports also said schools and colleges in Andhra Pradesh's Palnadu district will stay shut on November 2.
Source: Daily Jagran
Telangana is bracing for the storm's outer bands. The Hyderabad Meteorological Centre has issued an orange alert for heavy rain at isolated places in six districts on November 2 — Khammam, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool and Wanaparthy — and a yellow alert for Jangaon, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Rangareddy, Hyderabad and Medchal-Malkajgiri, with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds of 30 to 40 kmph likely at isolated places across the state.
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On the Andhra coast itself, IMD district warnings put five districts — Nellore, Prakasam, Bapatla, Guntur and Krishna — on red, the highest warning level, for Monday, with extremely heavy rain possible at isolated places. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea until November 4, and IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra has warned that sea conditions in the Bay of Bengal will be hazardous for fishing boats and smaller vessels.
Source: IMD via Hyderabad Mail
Murasu is the second cyclone to threaten this coast within a week, after Cyclone Arnab. Awaaz Punjab reported earlier on Sunday that the system had intensified into a named cyclonic storm at 11.30 a.m., that the IMD had raised its warning to Stage 3 with a storm surge of up to 1.5 metres, and that Odisha had begun controlled releases from the Hirakud reservoir. The next IMD bulletins on Monday will fix the storm's exact track as it turns severe.