Cyclone Montha likely to make landfall along Andhra Pradesh coast on October 28

The deep depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal has intensified into Cyclone Montha and is moving northwestwards at a speed of 15 kmph, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday.

As of 5.30 am, the cyclone system was centred about 560 km east-southeast of Chennai, 620 km south-southeast of Kakinada and 650 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam.

The cyclone is expected to strengthen further into a severe cyclonic storm and make landfall along the Andhra Pradesh coast near Kakinada, between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam on Tuesday night. It is expected to bring winds of 90 to 100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph, along with heavy to very heavy rainfall across coastal Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states.

In view of this, red alerts have been issued for several Andhra Pradesh districts, including Kakinada, Konaseema, West Godavari, Krishna, Bapatla, Prakasam and Nellore, PTI reported.

The weather department has advised fisherfolk not to venture into the sea for the next five days and urged those already out in the Bay of Bengal to return at the earliest.

Rough sea conditions are expected along the Andhra, Odisha and Bengal coasts between Tuesday and Thursday.

District collectors in Odisha have been instructed to evacuate residents from low-lying and flood-prone areas, state Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari told PTI.

He added that even though...

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