Two cyclones in a week on the same coast, and 12,230 people in shelters rather than in the water

The Bay of Bengal has sent Andhra Pradesh two cyclones in a week. Severe cyclonic storm Murasu came ashore near Ongole in Prakasam district in the early hours of Tuesday, local time, days after Cyclone Arnab hit the same region and neighbouring Odisha^1,2. The India Meteorological Department put the maximum sustained wind at landfall at 110–120 km/h¹.

The ledger of damage is specific, and so far small in lives. At least two people died in Bapatla district when buildings collapsed on them, the state disaster management authority’s managing director, Prakhar Jain, told The Hindu¹. Standing crops on 52,459 hectares were destroyed, 312 houses were damaged, and more than 200 mobile towers were affected¹. Preliminary reports put losses at ₹344 crore, which Jain said was less severe than Arnab’s toll¹. More than 35 trains were cancelled, 14 diverted and eight rescheduled¹.

The rain fell on parched ground, and then on too much of it. Prakasam and Bapatla received around 200 millimetres between midnight and 06:00 local time¹. Later in the day Marripalem in Palnadu district recorded 263.75 millimetres and Ganapavaram 246.7; five stations measured “extremely heavy” rainfall above 204.5 millimetres and 21 more topped 100¹. In neighbouring Telangana, where the IMD had issued a red alert, Bhadradri Kothagudem recorded 6.5 centimetres³.

The machinery that does not make headlines. Officials began evacuating on Monday, planning to move about 30,000 people, and 12,230 were still in relief centres on Tuesday evening^1,2. In Kothapatnam about 400 fishing families were moved out before the storm hit, one fisherman told PTI². Hyderabad’s traffic police asked employers to send staff home early or let them work from home³. A storm that hits a coast twice in a week tests whether the second response is faster than the first. On Tuesday’s evidence, the shelters were ready.

Murasu weakened into a cyclonic storm by midday and was forecast to become a deep depression overnight as it moved north-west towards Telangana¹. If you have family or business in the region, the useful sources this week are the IMD’s district warnings and the state disaster authority, not the rumours that travel faster than either.