Cyclone Murasu Puts The East Coast On Notice

IMD said Cyclone Murasu would cross the Andhra Pradesh coast near Ongole early on 3 November with destructive winds, as schools closed and response teams moved.

Cyclones arrive with colour codes and leave with debris. Between those two moments sits the only period officials can still change. On 1 November the India Meteorological Department said a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal had become Cyclonic Storm Murasu. By early November the track pointed at the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole, with landfall expected in the early hours of 3 November. Forecast winds of 100 to 110 kmph, gusting higher, are enough to peel roofs, fell trees and push water into homes that look safe on a calm afternoon.

Chennai and Tiruvallur shut schools and colleges on 2 November. Telangana issued orange and yellow alerts. Odisha raised readiness in the south. Andhra Pradesh moved National and State Disaster Response Force teams into districts on the projected path. Those are the right verbs: shut, issue, move. The wrong verb is wait.

## Why this landfall matters

The Andhra coast is farmed, fished and increasingly built. Aquaculture ponds, temporary labour housing and power lines sit in the wind's way. A morning landfall catches people who delayed leaving overnight. Fishermen who stay out for one more catch become the first search targets. Inland districts feel the rain even when they never see the eye; reservoirs and city drains decide whether a warning becomes a flood.

Murasu means war drum. The name is a warning device, not a metaphor for panic. Warnings work when they travel in the languages people speak and through the networks they trust — panchayats, temple and mosque loudspeakers, workplace supervisors — not only through English dashboards.

## What residents should do

Treat the latest IMD bulletin as the authority. Move from low houses when told. Keep documents and medicines in a waterproof bag. Stay away from electric poles and the urge to film the surf. After the storm, do not assume a quiet street is a safe street; damaged walls fall late.

## What's next

By 3 November the landfall point will be history rather than forecast. The scorecard then becomes deaths averted, power restored, roads opened and compensation begun. States that publish those numbers quickly are serious. States that only publish ministerial aerial surveys are not. Preparedness is a clock, and Murasu is already winding it.