Days after Cyclone Arnab, eastern coast gears up for Cyclone 'Murasu'

Days after Cyclone Arnab blazed a trail of destruction across India's eastern coast, a new cyclonic storm named 'Murasu' has formed over the Bay of Bengal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) tweeted on Sunday.

Murasu had formed as a deep depression, ultimately intensifying into a cyclonic storm over the southwest and adjoining westecentral Bay of Bengal, a post by the IMD noted.

"Deep Depression intensified into Cyclonic Storm “Murasu” [Pronunciation: Murasu] over Southwest & adjoining Westcentral Bay of Bengal [Cyclone Alert for Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts]," the post stated.

It added, "The Deep Depression over Southwest & adjoining Southeast Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with speed of 23 kmph during past 6 hours, intensified into the Cyclonic Storm “Murasu” [Pronunciation: Murasu]” and lay centered at 1130 hours IST of today, the 01st November, 2026 over Southwest & adjoining Westcentral Bay of Bengal, near Latitude 12.1°N and Longitude 85.3°E, about 560 km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu), 660 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 630 km east-southeast of Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), 640 km southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 680 km east-southeast of Ongole (Andhra Pradesh)."

According to IMD, the cyclone is very likely to move west-northwest and intensify further into a Severe Cyclonic Storm.

"It is very likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify further into a Severe Cyclonic Storm over Westcentral Bay of Bengal around 2nd November morning. Thereafter, it is very likely to move northwestwards and cross south Andhra Pradesh coast as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with wind speed of 100 to 110 kmph gusting 120kmph between Nellore and Narsapur during midnight (2330 Hrs IST) of 2nd to early hours (0400 Hrs IST) of 3rd November, 2026."

Earlier this week, Cyclone Arnab wrought havoc along the Andhra Pradesh coast after making landfall near Odalarevu on October 29, 2026. According to state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Arnab caused an estimated preliminary total loss of ₹4,600 crore across Andhra Pradesh.