Cyclone Murasu has struck India’s eastern coastline, uprooting trees, knocking down power lines and inundating low-lying parts of Andhra Pradesh. It is the second cyclone to hit the area within a week, following Cyclone Arnab.

The severe storm made landfall close to Ongole in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district at around 1am on Tuesday, or 19:30 GMT on Monday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

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The IMD said heavy to extremely heavy rainfall was expected across several districts during the day.

No fatalities or injuries had been reported immediately after landfall, said Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority. However, he confirmed that trees and electricity poles had been brought down by strong winds.

Reports said Prakasam and Bapatla districts suffered major damage, with thousands of trees uprooted, hundreds of power poles damaged and fishing boats destroyed. Crops in the fields were also affected, while several localities were flooded.

Officials started evacuating residents on Monday and expected to relocate about 30,000 people to safer areas across Andhra Pradesh, Jain said.

“This is the most severe cyclone we have seen in the past 14 years,” Krishnamma, a fisherman from Kothapatnam in Prakasam district, said. He added that around 400 families from his village had been evacuated before the cyclone arrived.

India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said he had spoken with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu about the effects of the storm.

Shah said the central government would extend every possible form of aid and support, noting that national and state disaster response teams had already been deployed in affected areas.

Murasu developed over the Bay of Bengal, a region that frequently produces powerful and dangerous storms along India’s eastern coast. The cyclone arrived only days after Arnab caused extensive losses in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Odisha.

The IMD said Andhra Pradesh and the southern state of Tamil Nadu were likely to face the strongest impact. Heavy rainfall linked to Murasu has also been reported in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Odisha.