Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Wednesday, 29 October 2025
One person was killed and several areas were lashed by heavy rain and strong winds after Cyclone Montha made landfall on the eastern coast around midnight, damaging crops and power infrastructure across Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states, officials said on Wednesday.
A 48-year-old woman died in Andhra Pradesh’s Konaseema district after a palm tree fell on her, local officials confirmed.
“Efforts are underway to restore power in areas where there had been outages,” an official added.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), “the severe cyclonic storm Montha crossed Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, south of Kakinada and close to Narsapur during midnight (11:30 pm of October 28 and 12:30 am of October 29).”
The landfall process lasted nearly five hours, from around 7:30 pm on Tuesday to 12:30 am on Wednesday. By 2:30 am, the cyclone — which means a “fragrant flower” in Thai — was centred about 20 km west-northwest of Narsapur and 50 km northeast of Machilipatnam.
At 5:30 am on Wednesday, Montha was moving north-northwestwards at 15 kmph, positioned about 80 km northwest of Narsapur, 100 km west of Kakinada, and 460 km southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha, the IMD said.
"Cloud mass associated with Cyclonic Storm Montha over coastal Andhra Pradesh. It is likely to move north-northwestwards across coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and weaken into a deep depression during next three hours and into a depression during subsequent six hours," the IMD said in a post on X.
The weather office forecast “extremely heavy rain” for coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal, with wind gusts reaching up to 90 kmph. More than 38,000 hectares of crops have been reported damaged in Andhra Pradesh, alongside several power lines and utility poles.
In Vijayawada, heavy rain accompanied by strong winds uprooted trees and inundated several roads early Wednesday. Video footage showed rescue personnel clearing fallen trees and debris as rain continued to lash the city.
The IMD predicted light to moderate rainfall at most places in Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, with “heavy to very heavy rainfall likely at a few locations till October 29.” Isolated areas could experience “extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 20 cm” during this period, it added. For October 30, light to moderate rain is expected at many places, with heavy rainfall at isolated locations over north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, a separate weather system — a depression over the eastcentral Arabian Sea — moved northeastwards at about 5 kmph and was centred around 410 km west-southwest of Mumbai and 430 km southwest of Veraval in Gujarat. The IMD said it is expected to continue moving northeastwards across the Arabian Sea over the next 36 hours.
Unseasonably heavy snow, due to weather changes brought on by the cyclone, has prompted authorities on the Tibet side of Mount Everest to halt visitor access to the world's highest mountain, a notice showed.
