Cyclone Murasu hits Andhra Pradesh, the second in a week; 30,000 people to be evacuated

Severe cyclonic storm Murasu made landfall near Ongole in Prakasam district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh at around 1 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, Al Jazeera reported. It is the second cyclone to hit the region in a week, after Cyclone Arnab.

Authorities planned to evacuate about 30,000 people. According to the PTI news agency, thousands of trees were felled in Prakasam and Bapatla districts, hundreds of power poles were damaged, fishing boats and crops were destroyed and many areas are under water. Prakhar Jain of the state disaster management authority told Reuters that no deaths or injuries had been reported in the first hours.

"The most dangerous cyclone in 14 years"

"This is the most dangerous cyclone we have witnessed in the last 14 years," a fisherman from the village of Kothapatnam, from which about 400 families were evacuated, told PTI. Murasu also brought heavy rain to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Odisha.