Cyclonic Storm Murasu intensifies into severe storm over Bay of Bengal
The system is expected to cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur with wind speeds reaching 120 kmph.
Cyclonic Storm Murasu intensified into a severe cyclonic storm over the west central and southwest Bay of Bengal in the early hours of Monday, November 2, according to The Hindu. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) observed at 2.30 a.m. that the storm was positioned approximately 260 km east-northeast of Chennai and 470 km south of Visakhapatnam.
The system is projected to move northwestwards and make landfall on the south Andhra Pradesh coast near Ongole between the night of November 2 and the early hours of November 3. It is expected to cross the coast between Nellore and Narsapur as a severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 100 to 110 kmph, gusting up to 120 kmph, as reported by Urban Acres.
The IMD has issued a red alert for extremely heavy rainfall on Monday for the Eluru, Krishna, Guntur, Bapatla, and SPSR Nellore districts. An orange alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall was issued for NTR, East Godavari, West Godavari, Palnadu, Chittoor, and Tirupati districts.
The Andhra Pradesh government has increased preparedness across the coastal and Rayalaseema regions. Rainfall activity had already begun in parts of the state by 6 a.m. on Monday.
Other weather warnings include a red alert for the ASR, Eluru, and NTR districts for Tuesday, November 3. Heavy rainfall is also expected in parts of Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and the Northeast over the coming days.