Amaravati: Cyclone Murasu has killed two people in Andhra Pradesh and caused preliminary damage estimated at Rs 344 crore, the State Disaster Management Authority said, as rain continued to lash coastal districts on Wednesday and 12,230 people remained in relief camps.
The severe cyclonic storm crossed the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narasapur, close to Ongole, between 3.30 am and 5.30 am on Tuesday, with winds of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120. By 2.30 pm it had weakened into a cyclonic storm 40 km west-northwest of Bapatla, and the weather office expected it to become a deep depression by midnight.
Standing crops over 52,459 hectares were damaged, 312 houses were destroyed, and the government is monitoring 814 minor irrigation tanks, with 776 on high alert, said APSDMA managing director Prakhar Jain. Thirty-five trains have been cancelled.
Hundreds of trees came down in Nellore, Prakasam and Bapatla districts and low-lying areas were inundated, though officials reported no disruption to power supply, with poles holding through the storm.
Schools and colleges were shut in several districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Odisha's government said it had evacuated 1,65,809 people from six districts and deployed 63 disaster response teams.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast isolated very heavy rain over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam on Wednesday, heavy rain at isolated places in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, south interior Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh, and fairly widespread rain in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Fishermen have been advised to stay off the sea off Andhra Pradesh until Wednesday morning.
Chirala's municipal corporation counting, postponed because of the rain, is now due on Friday.