India’s east coast is facing its second cyclone in less than seven days, after Cyclone Arnab made landfall on 28 October and Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu began bearing down on the same coastline. The two cyclones in a week have stretched evacuation, shelter and repair efforts across Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
According to India Today’s 2 November report, more than 180,000 people had been evacuated across Andhra Pradesh and Odisha during preparations for Cyclone Arnab, according to reports summarising the coverage. Arnab made landfall on 28 October, and Murasu — the next name on the north Indian Ocean cyclone list after Arnab — intensified from a depression to a cyclonic storm on 1 November and into a severe cyclonic storm by Monday morning, according to the IMD.
Murasu was named by India under the regional naming system for tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean, according to reports. Its forecast track takes it to the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole, late on Monday night or in the early hours of Tuesday, with winds of 100 to 110 km/h gusting to 120 km/h, according to the IMD.
Why back-to-back storms matter
A single cyclone strains a state’s disaster response. Two in a week strain it differently: shelters that housed evacuees days ago must be readied again, repair crews that restored power lines after the first storm face a second round of damage, and coastal residents who returned home after Arnab must decide whether to leave again for Murasu.
The IMD has issued a red cyclone warning for the Andhra and north Tamil Nadu coasts, according to reports, and ports remain under great danger signals. The agency’s bulletins have tracked Murasu’s position hourly, giving district administrations updated landfall windows as the storm moved west-northwest across the Bay of Bengal.
A season at its peak
October and November are the peak months for Bay of Bengal cyclones, when warm sea temperatures and favourable atmospheric conditions allow systems to intensify quickly. The back-to-back arrival of Arnab and Murasu fits that seasonal pattern, but it also tests a lesson disaster officials repeat every year: preparation saves lives only if it is repeated for every storm, not just the first. As Murasu approaches landfall, the measure of the response will not be the forecast — which has been consistent for days — but whether coastal communities, many still clearing debris from Arnab, are able to move, shelter and wait out a second storm in seven days.
