 "Severe Cyclone Montha to make landfall at Andhra Pradesh’s coast today, east coast on red alert")
India’s east coast is on alert on Tuesday as Cyclone Montha is forecast to make landfall later in the day at Andhra Pradesh’s coast.
In an update on Tuesday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that Cyclone Montha is forecast to make landfall on Tuesday between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada between 5:30 pm and 11:30 pm.
Cyclone Montha will bring sustained winds with the speed of 90-100 kilometre per hour (kmph) gusting to 110 kmph, according to the IMD.
The update further said that storm surge of height about 1 metre above astronomical tide is likely to cause inundation over low-lying areas of coastal Andhra and Yanam (Puducherry) around the time of landfall.
Previously, the IMD had forecast that Cyclone Montha will bring extremely heavy rainfall of over 210 millimetres in Andhra’s Rayalaseema region on Tuesday and several districts of Odisha on Tuesday and Wednesday — Malakangiri, Koraput, Rayagarh, Gajpati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur and Kalahandi.
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Additionally, northern Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and coastal Karnataka are likely to experience very heavy rain of 115-210 mm on Tuesday. Moreover, Yanam, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh are also forecast to have heavy rain till Thursday.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSo far, rain has lashed at least eight districts of Odisha as the storm intensified into a severe cyclonic storm on Tuesday morning. Rain also lashed Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada.
50,000 evacuated as east coast remains on red alert
Reuters has reported a government source as saying that up to 50,000 people have been evacuated to safer areas ahead of Cyclone Montha’s landfall.
Most of the India’s east coast is on red alert on Tuesday and National Disaster Response Force’s (NDRF) and state’s forces personnel have been deployed.
In Odisha, evacuations have been conducted in low-lying districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, and Kandhamal, according to The Indian Express.
The newspaper reported that the state government has deployed 140 rescue teams with over 5,000 personnel from NDRF, Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), and fire service.
Around 3,000 people, including 1,496 pregnant women, were shifted to the safer places by 5 pm of Monday ahead of the cyclone, according to Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari.
In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said 3,778 villages are likely to receive heavy rains from the Cyclone Montha.
Naidu said, “The impact of Montha will be severe from Tuesday morning. According to officials, 338 mandals and 3,778 villages have been forecast to receive heavy rainfall.”
The state government has estimated that 3.9 million people will be affected in the low-lying areas the state, according to Reuters.
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