Nine districts in Andhra Pradesh will be under red alert for the next two days as Cyclone Montha will intensify into a severe storm on the morning of Tuesday, October 28, according to the India Meteorological Department.
These include Kakinada, Konaseema, Eluru, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Bapatla, Prakasam and SPSR Nellor. Eleven NDRF and 12 SDRF teams are on standby in Anakapalli and Payakaraopeta.
The IMD warned that isolated extremely heavy rainfall will strike coastal Andhra Pradesh from October 27 to 29, Odisha on October 28 and 29, and Chhattisgarh on October 28.
Schools and colleges in Kadapa, Annamayya and East Godavari will be closed on October 28 while schools in Guntur, Krishna, Bapatla and NTR districts will have holidays on October 28 and 29. Kakinada schools will remain closed till October 31.
Schools and colleges will be used as shelters and to stock essential items like food, water and medicine. This comes as Cyclone Montha made landfall on the coast, according to Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) Managing Director Prakhar Jain said.
"Cyclone has begun. Coastal districts are witnessing rainfall accompanied by gales," Jain said in a release, adding that the system will intensify further as it approaches land.
The cyclonic storm was located about 560 km off Visakhapatnam coast on Monday evening and is predicted to to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday morning.
"The cyclone is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast near Kakinada during the evening or night of October 28 as a severe cyclonic storm," he added.
Special Officer for Cyclone Management V. Vinay Chand on Monday asked officials to shift people and livestock from coastal and riverine areas in Andhra Pradesh.
East Coast Railway has cancelled 43 trains, including major routes like Visakhapatnam–Kirandul, Visakhapatnam–Koraput, Visakhapatnam–Tirupati, and Visakhapatnam–Chennai till October 30.
Southern Railway also cancelled two trains, including The Visakhapatnam–Chennai Central Superfast Express (22869) scheduled for October 27 and the Chennai Central–Visakhapatnam Express (22870) scheduled for October 28.
South Central Railway has also cancelled 28 trains in total.