Severe cyclonic storm Murasu has hit India's eastern coast, uprooting trees, toppling electricity poles and flooding low-lying areas of Andhra Pradesh. The India Meteorological Department said the storm made landfall near Ongole in Prakasam district at about 1am on Tuesday. It is the second cyclone to strike the region in a week, days after Cyclone Arnab caused heavy damage in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Odisha.
Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, said no deaths or injuries had been reported so far, though trees and power poles had been brought down. He said evacuations began on Monday and authorities planned to move about 30,000 people to safety. According to sources, thousands of trees were felled and hundreds of power poles damaged in Prakasam and Bapatla districts, fishing boats were wrecked and standing crops were hit.
"This is the most dangerous cyclone we have witnessed in the last 14 years," said Krishnamma, a fisherman from Kothapatnam in Prakasam district, adding that about 400 families from his village had been moved out before the storm arrived.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said he had spoken to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and that the central government would provide all possible support, with national and state disaster response teams already deployed. The weather department warned of heavy to very heavy rain in several districts, and Murasu is also bringing heavy rain to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Odisha.