Cyclone Montha batters Vijayawada; heavy rain, uprooted trees, and flooded roads reported
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Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds lashed Vijayawada city on Wednesday morning, uprooting several trees and inundating multiple roads after severe cyclonic storm Montha made landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast near Narasapur in West Godavari district, south of Kakinada, overnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
According to the IMD bulletin issued at 5 a.m., after crossing the coast, the weather system moved northwestwards at a speed of 10 kmph over the past six hours and weakened into a cyclonic storm.
“The latest observations indicate that the severe cyclonic storm Montha crossed Andhra Pradesh and Yanan coasts between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, south of Kakinada and close to Narsapur during midnight (11:30 p.m. of Oct. 28 and 12:30 a.m. of Oct. 29),” the IMD said in a release.
The landfall process lasted about five hours, beginning around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and concluding around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the department added.
By 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Montha — which means a fragrant flower in Thai — was centred about 20 km west to northwest of Narasapur, 50 km northeast of Machilipatnam, 90 km west to southwest of Kakinada, 230 km southwest of Visakhapatnam, and 470 km southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha.
“It is likely to move northwestwards across coastal Andhra Pradesh and maintain its intensity of a cyclonic storm during the next six hours, and weaken further into a deep depression during subsequent six hours,” said the Met Department.
The latest observations also indicated that the rear sector of the cyclone had moved inland, it added.
The Met Department forecast light to moderate rainfall at most places in Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, with heavy to very heavy rainfall expected at a few locations until October 29. It also warned of extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 20 cm at isolated spots during this period.
For October 30, the department predicted light to moderate rainfall at many places, with heavy rainfall likely at isolated locations over north coastal Andhra Pradesh.