Symbolic imageCyclone Murasu hits Andhra Pradesh after Cyclone Arnab
Cyclone Murasu made landfall on India's east coast early on Tuesday, the second cyclone in the region within a week after Arnab.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the severe cyclonic storm came ashore near Ongole in Prakasam district at about 1am on Tuesday, 3 November, and the agency warned of heavy to very heavy rain across several districts. Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, told Reuters that no deaths or injuries had been reported so far. The Press Trust of India reported extensive damage in Prakasam and Bapatla districts: thousands of trees felled, hundreds of power poles damaged, fishing boats wrecked, crops hit and many areas underwater.
Evacuations and federal aid
Authorities began evacuating people on Monday and planned to move about 30,000 in Andhra Pradesh, Jain said. Home Minister Amit Shah wrote on X that he had spoken to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and promised central assistance, with national and state disaster response teams already on the ground.
Rain beyond Andhra Pradesh
The IMD forecast that Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu would be worst hit. Murasu is also bringing heavy rain to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Odisha, which Arnab had damaged days earlier together with Andhra Pradesh.