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Highlights

  • Cyclone Montha intensifies into a severe storm over the Bay of Bengal
  • Odisha evacuates thousands from eight southern districts
  • Schools closed, rescue teams deployed, and ports on high alert

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Rain lashes 8 southern Odisha districts as 'Montha' intensifies into severe cyclonic storm

Cyclone Montha intensified into a severe storm over the Bay of Bengal, prompting Odisha to evacuate residents from low-lying and hilly areas across eight southern districts as heavy rain lashed the region.

Updated: Sep 02, 2022 10:53
|

PTI

Rain lashes 8 southern Odisha districts as 'Montha' intensifies into severe cyclonic storm

Rain lashed eight southern Odisha districts as cyclone 'Montha' in the Bay of Bengal intensified into a severe cyclonic storm on Tuesday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Keeping in view the impending situation, the Odisha government has evacuated people from low-lying areas and hilly terrains prone to landslides in the eight districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, and Kandhamal. It has also deployed 140 rescue teams (over 5,000 personnel) from the NDRF, ODRAF, and Fire Service.

The administration has already announced the closure of schools and anganwadi centres in nine districts till October 30, while the East Coast Railway has cancelled, diverted, or short-terminated several trains operating in the Waltair region and connected routes. The leave of government employees has also been cancelled till October 30.

All sea beaches have been sealed to prevent tourists and locals from entering, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) D K Singh said. People evacuated from vulnerable places are being housed in over 1,400 cyclone shelters opened across the eight districts, where food and other arrangements have been made. Pregnant women are also being shifted to nearby hospitals.

The state government has advised fishermen not to venture into the Bay of Bengal along and off the Odisha coast till October 29. The weather agency has also suggested hoisting Local Cautionary Signal No-III (LC-III) at Gopalpur Port and Distant Warning Signal No-II (DW-II) at Paradip, Dhamra, Puri, Chhatrapur, and Chandbali ports of Odisha.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi is likely to review the situation later in the day, an official said.

In its latest bulletin, the IMD said, “The cyclonic storm 'Montha' over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 15 kmph during the past six hours, intensified into a severe cyclonic storm, and lay centred at 5.30 am about 190 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 270 km south-southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 340 km south-southwest of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), and 550 km south-southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha).”

Montha means “fragrant flower” or “beautiful flower” in the Thai language.

The system is likely to continue moving north-northwestwards and cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada during the evening or night of Tuesday as a severe cyclonic storm, with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90–100 kmph, gusting to 110 kmph, said Dr. Manorama Mohanty, director of the Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar.

For Tuesday, the IMD issued a red warning (Take Action) as it forecast scattered heavy to very heavy rainfall (7–20 cm) with isolated extremely heavy rainfall (over 20 cm) at places in the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, and Ganjam.

Similarly, an orange warning (Be Prepared) for heavy to very heavy rainfall (7–20 cm) was issued for Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Bolangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Khurda, Puri, and Bargarh districts.

A yellow warning (Be Aware) of heavy rainfall (7–11 cm) was also forecast for Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, and Sundergarh districts.

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