Cyclonic storm to weaken into deep depression before noon

While many people stayed inside due to continuous rain and strong winds in Vijayawada on Wednesday, a lone motorcyclist was walking on a crowded road near the bus stand. | Photo Credit: KVS Giri

After making landfall between 11.30pm and 12pm on the intervening Tuesday-Wednesday (October 29) night, Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Montha’ off the Andhra Pradesh coast intensified into a cyclonic storm around 2.30am on Wednesday.

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According to the information provided by India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, the wind speed of the Severe Cyclonic Storm reached 90 km/h near Machilipatnam when the process of approaching land near the AP coast began.

The cyclonic storm is located about 20 km west-northwest of Narsapur, 50 km northeast of Machilipatnam, 90 km west-southwest of Kakinada, 230 km southwest of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 470 km southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha, IMD said in a bulletin. IMD stated that the rear part of cyclonic storm ‘Montha’ has entered landfall.

The IMD bulletin at 7 am stated that the storm will move northwestwards along the Andhra Pradesh coast and maintain cyclonic storm intensity for the next 6 hours and further weaken into a deep depression during the next 6 hours.

An orange alert has been issued for the districts in Srikakulam, Parvathipuram Manyam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Alluri Sitharama Raju, Anakapalli, Eluru, NTR, Krishna, Guntur, Palnadu, Bapatla and Nandyal districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema as very heavy rainfall is expected at one or two places.

INCOIS has issued red alert for Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari and Krishna districts; because high waves in the range of 2.9 to 5.2 meters are likely to occur on the Bay of Bengal coasts in these regions. The institute issued a recommendation to suspend nearshore activities due to the possibility of wave surges and erosion.