India evacuated more than 50,000 people from coastal regions on Monday as Cyclone Montha gathered strength over the Bay of Bengal, threatening to bring powerful winds and torrential rain to the country’s east coast.
Officials said the cyclone is expected to intensify into a severe storm by Tuesday, before making landfall along the coast of Andhra Pradesh later in the day, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Authorities have cancelled holidays for emergency personnel and ordered schools and colleges to close in vulnerable coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
“Evacuation of people from near the coast in Kakinada district has already started,” a disaster management official in Andhra Pradesh told Reuters.
Nearly 50,000 residents have already been moved to relief camps, a government report confirmed. Disaster response teams have been deployed to low-lying areas, where officials expect up to 3.9 million people could be affected by the storm.
Fishermen in Odisha have been warned to stay ashore as rough seas are expected to develop ahead of landfall.
States on High Alert
Authorities in Tamil Nadu have also urged residents to remain cautious, warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall in several districts. The state capital, Chennai, remains particularly vulnerable to flooding, as seen during Cyclone Michaung in 2023.
Regional Impact
In neighboring Nepal, officials have warned of potential rain and snowfall between October 27 and 31, advising trekkers and mountain communities to stay alert. Earlier this month, floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain in Nepal killed 53 people.
Cyclones regularly strike India’s east coast between April and December. One of the most devastating, the 1999 Odisha super cyclone, claimed nearly 10,000 lives, marking one of the nation’s worst natural disasters.
Leave a Reply