Cyclone Montha headed to Andhra Pradesh coast: IMD issues extremely heavy rain alert for next week

VISAKHAPATNAM: Parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh (CAP) will have to brace for heavy to extremely heavy rainfall next week (from October 27) as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that a cyclone likely to form in the Bay of Bengal is approaching its coast.The cyclonic storm will be identified as Cyclone Montha, named by Thailand. This will be the second cyclone to develop in October this year, after Cyclone Shakthi that had developed off the Gujarat coast in the Arabian Sea.The IMD said on Saturday that the depression over southeast Bay of Bengal moved nearly westwards on Saturday (Oct 25) and lay centred over the same region, about 440 km west-southwest of Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), 970 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 970 km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu), 990 km southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) and 1040 km south-southeast of Gopalpur (Odisha).It is likely to move nearly westnorthwestwards, intensify into a deep depression by Sunday (Oct 26) and into a cyclonic storm over southwest and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal by Monday (Oct 27). Thereafter it is likely to move northwestwards, then north-northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday (Oct 28)Continuing to move north-northwestwards, it is very likely to cross Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada on Oct 28 as a severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph.

Parts of the state have been experiencing light to moderate rainfall for the past few days . The disaster management teams in Andhra Pradesh are on high alert due to the formation of cyclone which is forecast to bring extreme rainfall to the state from Oct 27.