Cyclone ‘Murasu’ intensifies, likely to cross Andhra coast tonight

Amaravati: Cyclonic storm ‘Murasu’ in the Bay of Bengal, has intensified into severe cyclonic storm and is likely to cross Andhra Pradesh coast in the wee hours of Tuesday, the IMD said on Monday.

Cyclonic storm ‘Murasu’ over Westcentral and adjoining Southwest Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwestwards with a speed of 20 kmph during the past six hours, intensified into severe cyclonic storm and lay centered at 2.30 a.m. IST of November 2 over the same region, about 260 km east-northeast of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, 290 km east-southeast of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, 320 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam, 310 km east-southeast of Kavali, 330 km southeast of Ongole and 470 km south of Vishakhapatnam in the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a bulletin.

It is very likely to continue to move northwestwards and cross south Andhra Pradesh coast as a severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 100 to 110 kmph gusting 120 kmph between Nellore and Narsapur close to Ongole at midnight of November 2 to the early hours of November 3. Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) has advised people to remain alert.

APSDMA Managing Director and CEO of Real Time Governance Society (RTGS) Centre, Prakhar Jain, said that heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in the South Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions on Monday and Tuesday. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in isolated areas across the districts of Krishna, Guntur, Bapatla, Prakasam, Markapuram, and Nellore on Monday.

Extremely heavy rainfall is expected in one or two locations. Very heavy rainfall is likely in some areas within the districts of Eluru, East Godavari, West Godavari, NTR, Palnadu, Tirupati, and Chittoor. Heavy rainfall is expected in some parts of the Alluri, Polavaram, Kakinada, and Konaseema districts.

Heavy rainfall is also likely in some areas of the Nandyal, YSR Kadapa, and Annamayya districts. He said six teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and seven teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in advance for relief and rescue operations.

Anticipating the possibility of large-scale damage to electricity infrastructure, particularly uprooting of electric poles in areas likely to be affected by the cyclone, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay and Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar requesting them to send necessary personnel and machinery to Andhra Pradesh to undertake electricity infrastructure restoration works.

According to an official release late on Sunday night, both Chief Ministers responded positively and assured of extending all possible assistance to Andhra Pradesh. Chandrababu Naidu informed them that Andhra Pradesh officials would coordinate with their counterparts in the two states to facilitate the required support.

Meanwhile, personnel from Telangana are already engaged in field-level operations to restore the electricity infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Arnab. As a precautionary measure, the Andhra Pradesh Government has also kept electricity department personnel, who have completed restoration works in Cyclone Arnab-affected areas, ready for deployment in regions likely to be affected by Cyclone ‘Murasu’.