It made landfall near Mahabalipuram on October 31 as a strong cyclonic storm with peak winds of 85 km/h (55 mph).

[1] In Chennai's Marina Beach, strong winds pushed piles of sand ashore and seawater reached nearly a 100 m (330 ft) inland.

[6] Later, as the Andhra Pradesh government conducted their review on the storm, it was revealed that the state suffered huge economic losses of ₹200 crore (US$23 million).

[10] During that day the depression moved towards the west and gradually developed further with deep convection surrounding the system becoming better organized.

[11] The Joint Typhoon Warning Centre also noted that deep convection was building over a cloud-covered low level circulation center and issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert.

[22] Severe flooding in Prakasam district blocked a highway and strong winds overturned a major truck.

TV9, a Telugu news channel reported that people in Nellore district continued to suffer from the effects of the storm even after landfall, due to lack of information regarding the cyclone.

[26] The Kandaleru-Poondi part of the Telugu Ganga project near Gudur, reportedly overflowed cutting transportation across the river.

TV9 reported that over 12,000 poor had remained hungry over the past three days and no government official had visited the storm affected villages despite the prolonged shortage of food and lack of electricity.

Trees were reportedly uprooted in the city's suburbs of SR Nagar, Shantinagar and Jaya Gardens near Malakpet.

[31] The Chennai Port sounded a 'Danger 7' alarm and had sent off ships to outer sea to minimize damage when the storm made landfall.

Madras Atomic Power Station, Kalpakkam officials stated that vigil was being maintained on all important equipment, and the reactors are made to withstand winds up to 160 km/h (99 mph).

Residents gathered at the Santhome beach, observing the relief and rescue efforts made to help the victims of the MV Pratibha Cauvery.

[35] On November 2, one of the MT Pratibha Cauvery's five missing sailors' bodies was found in the sea waters near Chennai.

Four others remained missing even after a second day of search and rescue efforts which included four ships, two helicopters and two Dornier aircraft.

[19] On November 3, the remaining two bodies from the MV Prathiba Cauvery incident were recovered, sending the death toll up to 21.

[18] On November 3, Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Centre reported that the process of relief and recovery had started.

[40] In a review conducted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the next day, it was depicted that nearly 67,819 people of 21,655 families have been shifted to 86 relief camps across the state.

[42] Despite several hours passed since Nilam made landfall, the convection persisted and caused very heavy rainfall in north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

To analyze the situation, Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy conducted an aerial survey in flood affected areas.

Exactly double the figure of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh suffered more economic damage and life loss though it was not directly hit.