Cyclone Murasu makes landfall, heavy rains batter Andhra coasts

Fishing boats lie scattered amid debris and wreckage at a coastal area as Cyclone Murasu approaches the Andhra Pradesh coast, in Visakhapatnam on Monday. (ANI Video Grab)

Cyclone Murasu made landfall after 1 AM near Kothapatnam, close to Ongole, in Andhra Pradesh at 1 am today, bringing extremely heavy rains accompanied by high-speed winds touching 150 km per hour.

Hundreds of trees were uprooted in the districts of Nellore, Prakasam, and Bapatla. Power supply was not affected, though electricity poles appeared to have withstood the storm. Several low-lying areas were inundated.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a teleconference with the district collectors and officials at 03.30 am to review the Murasu cyclone situation.

Officials informed that Cyclone Murasu will cross the coast by 06.30 am.

Unlike the post-Arnab cyclone, when at least 5 people died due to touching live wires that had fallen, the Chief Minister instructed that care must be taken to ensure people do not come out onto the roads in the cyclone-affected areas until all obstructions are cleared.

Electricity department officials reported that no power poles have fallen so far and there is no disruption to the power supply anywhere in the affected zones.