Cyclone Murasu hits crops in 15 AP districts; early estimates put damage above 30,000 hectares, paddy and cotton worst hit

Severe cyclonic storm Murasu crossed the coast near Ongole in Prakasam district at about 1 AM on Tuesday, the IMD said. It was expected to weaken into a deep depression by Tuesday night.

Crop damage (preliminary)

• Over 30,000 hectares of crops were damaged across 15 districts, PTI reported; the official release gives 30,661 acres, so the units differ.
• Deccan Chronicle puts inundated paddy at 30,600 hectares, cotton at 21,474 hectares and maize at 605 hectares.
• Krishna, Bapatla and Nandyal were the worst hit. Salt pans near Ongole were also flooded.
• In Prakasam district alone, 3,314 farmers lost crops on 3,151 hectares in 72 villages.

Rain and relief

In the 24 hours to 8:30 AM Tuesday, Bapatla received 22 cm and Narsapuram 20 cm. Across 132 mandals, 171 relief camps were opened, 10,805 people were moved and 14,810 food packets were handed out. Eleven NDRF and 13 SDRF teams are deployed. APSDMA managing director Prakhar Jain said no deaths had been reported.

CM Chandrababu Naidu told collectors to speed up restoration. People can report power cuts, fallen trees and waterlogging on the Mana Mitra WhatsApp number 9552300009. No crop compensation has been announced yet.