Cyclone Montha makes landfall in Andhra; rains pound coastal districts

The Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Montha’, which made landfall off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, will maintain the intensity of a cyclonic storm during the next six hours, the Meteorological Department has said.

The cyclone crossed the coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam on Tuesday night, bringing widespread rains in the region, while the impact was also felt in the neighbouring state of Odisha.

The weather department has forecast light to moderate rainfall at most places in Andhra Pradesh and Yanam and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places till Wednesday.

"The severe cyclonic storm Montha is likely to maintain the intensity of a cyclonic storm for a period of six hours after the landfall over interior Andhra Pradesh and adjoining areas of south Odisha, south Chhattisgarh and Telangana," said an IMD bulletin.

For Thursday, the IMD forecast light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu held a teleconference with village and ward secretariat personnel to take stock of the situation.

According to a PTI report, standing crops in as many as 38,000 hectares and horticulture crops in 1.38 lakh hectares were destroyed in Andhra Pradesh.

Nearly 76,000 people have been shifted to relief camps. The government has set up 219 medical camps at various places and also arranged 865 tonnes of animal fodder, keeping the cyclone in view.

Indian Railways cancelled, diverted and rescheduled multiple coaching trains across the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway Zone on Tuesday. 

Similarly, the South Central Railway (SCR) Zone cancelled 120 trains in total on Monday and Tuesday, said an official.