The Odisha government issued a high alert to eight districts as cyclonic storm intensifies into Cyclone Montha on Monday, October 27. During the high-level meeting, state revenue and disaster management minister Suresh Pujari reviews the ground situation of districts which likely to be affected by the storm.
Eight districts of Odisha, including Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, and Nabarangpur likely to be most affected by the upcoming storm and therefore have been placed under the Red Zone category until further order.
Odisha Minister Suresh Pujari said that the administration of all 30 districts has been instructed to remain active and prepare for any situation that arises in case the cyclonic storm changes its course. The minister stated that the deep depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal has been moving in a west-northwest direction at a speed of about 6 kilometres per hour during the past six hours.
According to the India Meteorological Department bulletin at 4.21 am on Monday, October 27, Cyclone Montha has intensified into a cyclonic storm in the southeast Bay of Bengal. The cyclonic storm has moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 16 kmph during the past 3 hours and lies centred at 2.30 am.
The storm lay centred about 600 km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu), 680 km south-southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 710 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 790 km west of Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands), and 850 km south of Gopalpur (Odisha), according to IMD.
The cyclone is likely to move nearly west-northwestwards and intensify further into a cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours. Further intensify into a severe cyclonic storm across the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada during the evening/night of October 28, according to NDTV.
The Odisha Minister said that the Malkangiri district is about 200 km from the place where the cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall. Fishermen have already returned from the sea, and fishing activities have been banned from October 27 to 31.