Cyclone Montha LIVE: Storm to make landfall near Andhra coast today; 43 trains, all IndiGo, Air India Express flights cancelled from Vizag

Cyclone Montha LIVE Updates: The India(BHARAT)n National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and the Meteorological Department have warned that high sea waves, between 2 and 4.7 metres, are likely along the Andhra Pradesh coast from Nellore to Srikakulam as cyclone ‘Montha’ is expected to strengthen into a cyclonic storm by the morning of October 28. The storm is likely to move north-northwestwards and cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, near Kakinada, during the evening or night of October 28, reported ANI. At the time of landfall, Montha is expected to bring maximum sustained wind speeds of 90–100 kmph, gusting up to 110 kmph, the IMD said.

‘Montha’, which means “a fragrant flower” in Thai, was located over the west-central and nearby southwest Bay of Bengal at 5:30 p.m. It has been moving northwest at a speed of about 15 km per hour over the past six hours. At that time, the cyclone was about 450 km south-southeast of Kakinada, 420 km east of Chennai, 500 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, and 670 km south-southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha.

Around the time of landfall, a storm surge about one metre higher than the usual tide could flood some low-lying coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Yanam.

The forecast also says that between October 27 and 29, most areas likely to be affected by the cyclone will get light to moderate rain, while some places may see heavy to very heavy rainfall. A few areas could even receive extremely heavy rainfall, exceeding 20 cm.