MD warns of heavy rain and gusty winds on both coasts as Severe Cyclone ‘Montha’ weakens over Andhra Pradesh while another system moves towards the western coast
After a noisy midnight landfall, Severe Cyclonic Storm Montha over coastal Andhra Pradesh began to weaken on Wednesday, even as a separate depression gathered strength over the east-central Arabian Sea, prompting weather alerts along India’s western coastline.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Montha moved nearly north-northwestwards after landfall and lay centered at 0530 hrs IST on Wednesday over the same region — near latitude 17.0°N and longitude 81.3°E — about 80 km northwest of Narsapur, 100 km west of Kakinada, and 90 km north of Machilipatnam. It was also located about 230 km west-southwest of Visakhapatnam and 460 km southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha).
The system is expected to continue moving north-northwestwards across coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, weakening into a deep depression within the next three hours and further into a depression during the subsequent six hours, the IMD said.
The landfall occurred around midnight and lasted for nearly three to four hours. “Latest observations indicate that the severe cyclonic storm Montha crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, to the south of Kakinada, close to Narsapur, near latitude 16.35°N and longitude 83.7°E, between 2330 hrs IST of October 28 and 0030 hrs IST of October 29,” the IMD reported.
The system is being continuously monitored by Doppler Weather Radars (DWR) at Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam, in addition to coastal observatories, automatic weather stations (AWS), ships, buoys, and satellites.
Meanwhile, over the Arabian Sea, a depression is moving northeastwards at about 5 kmph. As of 0530 hrs IST on October 29, it was centered near latitude 17.9°N and longitude 69.2°E — approximately 410 km west-southwest of Mumbai, 430 km southwest of Veraval (Gujarat), 560 km west-northwest of Panjim (Goa), 820 km northwest of Mangalore (Karnataka), and 850 km north-northwest of Aminidivi (Lakshadweep). The IMD forecasts that the system will continue to move northeastwards across the east-central Arabian Sea over the next 36 hours.
On the east coast, the IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Telangana as Montha weakens and moves inland. Light to moderate rain and thunderstorms are likely to continue over coastal and north-coastal districts through Wednesday before gradually tapering off.
On the west coast, the depression over the Arabian Sea is expected to bring light to moderate rain or thunderstorms at many places, with isolated heavy rainfall over Konkan & Goa, Marathwada, and Madhya Maharashtra through Wednesday, and over the Gujarat region till October 31. Isolated very heavy rainfall is also likely over Saurashtra and Kutch till October 31, accompanied by thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds reaching 30–40 kmph over the region during the next five days.
