A third cyclone could hit Andhra Pradesh in less than a month
Down To Earth · Published 11 November 2026 · Last updated
A third cyclone could strike Andhra Pradesh within a month, compounding damages from earlier storms Arnab and Murasu and highlighting severe gaps in long-term disaster resilience infrastructure.
Key points
- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) indicated the presence of an upper air cyclonic circulation over the south Andaman Sea on November 11, 2026.
- Data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on November 11 suggested a cyclone could form around November 16 and move toward southern Andhra Pradesh by November 19.
- Very severe cyclone Arnab made landfall along the Andhra Pradesh coast in the early hours of October 28, 2026.
- Severe cyclone Murasu made landfall along the southern Andhra Pradesh coast on the intervening night of November 2-3, 2026, following an earlier system over Odisha.
- The two October-November storms damaged crops across 461,000 hectares in Andhra Pradesh, alongside horticultural crop losses across 29,960 hectares.
- The Andhra Pradesh government deployed 500 staffers dispatched from the Telangana power distribution company and distributed November rations a week early to mitigate cyclone impacts.
- K J Ramesh, former director general of IMD, noted that the post-monsoon season of 2026 is an unprecedented El Niño year that can throw up surprises in cyclogenesis.
- Sanjay Srivastava, principal scientist at CROPC, warned that long-term disaster resilience remains inadequate, citing a lack of climate-resilient infrastructure and district-level emergency experts.
Background
- In October and November 2026, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha were hit by two back-to-back cyclones, namely Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Arnab and Severe Cyclonic Storm Murasu.
- Historically, the post-monsoon season of 2013 similarly produced four cyclones in the region: Phailin, Helen, Lehar, and Madi.
Prelims facts and Mains angle for this issue are in the full SWAदेSH note.
Original report: Down To Earth