Bhubaneswar: The deep depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal has intensified and is likely to turn into a severe cyclonic storm ‘Montha’ within the next 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.
According to the IMD, the system is moving west-northwestwards at a speed of around 6 kmph and was centred at 8:30 am near latitude 11.2°N and longitude 87.1°E. It was located about 620 km west of Port Blair, 780 km east-southeast of Chennai, 830 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, 830 km southeast of Kakinada, and 930 km south-southeast of Gopalpur.
The IMD said the system will gradually strengthen and is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal during the next 24 hours. Later, it will move northwestwards and intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm by the morning of October 28.
It is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, near Kakinada, on the evening or night of October 28 as a severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 90–100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph.
The IMD has issued several alerts for Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
An orange warning has been issued for Ganjam and Gajapati districts on October 27, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall and thunderstorms with lightning accompanied by winds reaching 30–40 kmph gusting to 50 kmph. A yellow warning has been issued for Puri district for the same day.
On October 28, a red warning has been issued for Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Malkangiri, and Koraput, forecasting very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall with winds reaching 60–70 kmph gusting to 80 kmph. Orange warnings have been issued for Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Khurda, and Puri, while yellow warnings cover Nuapada, Balangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Bargarh, Sambalpur, and Deogarh districts.
On October 29, red warnings remain in effect for Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, and Kalahandi, while orange warnings are issued for Balangir, Nuapada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, and Boudh.
Yellow warnings are in place for Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sonepur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, and Kendrapara.
The IMD has advised fishermen not to venture into the southwest and adjoining central Bay of Bengal or along and off the Odisha coast till October 29. Those already at sea have been urged to return to shore immediately due to rough sea conditions.
The cyclone has been named ‘Montha’ by Thailand. It will be the second cyclone to form over the Indian seas in October, following Cyclone ‘Shakthi’, which developed earlier this month over the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast.
