Rain lashed several districts in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha as cyclone 'Montha' in the Bay of Bengal intensified into a severe cyclonic storm on Tuesday morning.
The cyclone Montha intensified into a severe cyclonic storm around 5.30 am on Tuesday, said the Meteorological Department.
Montha means a fragrant flower in Thai language.
During a review meeting on Montha, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed officials to inform people in real-time.
Consequently, real-time voice alerts were disseminated, and public address systems were also set up in 26 districts.
Across 22 districts, the state government set up 3,174 rehabilitation centres, which will be manned by 3,778 secretaries. These centres are equipped with essential commodities such as food and other items.
The highest number of rehabilitation centres have been set up in Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district (650), followed by Bapatla (481) and East Godavari (376), among others.
Keeping in view the impending situation, the Odisha government has evacuated people from low-lying areas and also hilly terrain prone to landslides in the eight districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Kandhamal and deployed 140 rescue teams (over 5,000 personnel) of NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Service.
The administration has already announced the closure of schools and anganwadi centres in nine districts till October 30, while East Coast Railway has announced cancellation, diversion, and short termination of some trains operating in the Waltair region and connected routes. The leave of government employees have also been cancelled till October 30.
The administration has also sealed all sea beaches to prevent tourists and local people from entering beaches, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) D K Singh said.
The people evacuated from vulnerable places are being housed in over 1,400 cyclone shelters opened in the eight districts where food and other arrangements have been made, officials said, adding that pregnant women are 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 also suggested hoisting of local cautionary signal (LC-III) No-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.
Meanwhile, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) issued high sea waves, up to 4.7 metres high, warning across several coastal districts.
Similarly, it issued an ocean currents alert to East Godavari and Nellore districts.
"Ocean current alert for the coast of East Godavari from Antarvedi to Perumallapuram. Surface current speeds in the range of 0.8 to 1.2 metre per second are forecast during 7 am to 7 pm on October 28. It is advised that harbour and marine operations be careful," said INCOIS in a release.
According to INCOIS, sea condition is very likely to be rough to very rough along and off Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts. It would worsen further to become very rough to high from Tuesday morning onwards and very high from Tuesday evening to October 29 early hours, it said.
Likewise, the Hyderabad-based INCOIS noted that danger signal number seven (DS-VII) is hoisted at Kakinada Port, DS-VI at Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram Ports and DS-V at Machilipatnam, Nizampatnam and Krishnapatnam Ports.
Further, it issued a storm surge warning of one metre height above astronomical tide, which is likely to cause inundation over low-lying areas of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam around the landfall time of the severe cyclonic storm.
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