Cyclone Montha intensified late Sunday night time over the southwest Bay of Bengal, the India Meteorological Division (IMD) declared Monday morning. It’s more likely to proceed transferring northwest in the direction of India’s east coast, strengthening right into a ‘extreme’ cyclone by Tuesday morning, as per the IMD.
The storm will later cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, near Kakinada, someday throughout night or night time hours on Tuesday, the IMD mentioned in its 4 am nationwide bulletin. On the time of the cyclone landfall, squally winds with speeds of 90 to 100 km/hr gusting to 110 km/hr are doubtless.
In accordance with satellite tv for pc imagery updates obtainable with the IMD at 2.30 am on Monday, Cyclone Montha was situated 600 km east-southeast of Chennai, 680 km south-southeast of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, 710 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, 790 km west of Port Blair, and 850 km south of Gopalpur in Odisha.
Over the previous few hours, the in any other case slow-moving cyclone picked up pace and moved at practically 16 km/hr on Monday, approaching the Indian mainland faster.
On Monday, heavy to very heavy rainfall (65-201 mm in 24 hours) is more likely to hit the north coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and all coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Extraordinarily heavy rainfall (over 210 mm in 24 hours) is forecast over southern Odisha, Chhattisgarh and coastal Andhra Pradesh Tuesday because the storm approaches nearer.
Gangetic West Bengal, Sikkim and Bihar, too, brace for heavy rain because the remnants of the cyclone would then take a northward monitor after landfall, the IMD mentioned.
There are possibilities of a storm surge over one metre above astronomical tide resulting in inundation over the low-lying areas of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam on the time of the cyclone landfall on Tuesday, the IMD mentioned.
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The districts anticipated to expertise heavy rain and gale-force winds are as follows:
Andhra Pradesh: Tirupati, Annamayya, Nellore, YSR, Kadapa, Prakasham, Bapatla, Chittoor, Nandyal, Palnadu, Guntur, Krishna, East and West Godavari, Konaseema, Kakinada, Anakapalli, Alluri Seetharamaraju, Visakhapatnam, Eluru, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, and Parvathi Puram Manyam.
Odisha: Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput, Nawarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nuapada, and Boudh.
Cyclone Montha would be the first cyclone more likely to make landfall over the Indian landmass this 12 months. Earlier this month, Cyclone Shakti developed off the Gujarat coast within the Arabian Sea, nevertheless it moved away from the Indian coast.