Cyclone Montha is rapidly gaining strength over the Bay of Bengal, with cloud bands intensifying around its center, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday. The system, currently centred about 970 km southeast of Gopalpur and 890 km from Kakinada, is expected to intensify into a deep depression today and further strengthen into a cyclonic storm by Monday.

According to the IMD, Montha is likely to become a severe cyclonic storm by the morning of October 28, as it moves northwestward over the west-central Bay of Bengal.

The cyclone is projected to make landfall between Kakinada and Machilipatnam along the Andhra Pradesh coast, close to Kalingapatnam, between the evening and midnight of October 28. At the time of landfall, wind speeds are expected to reach 90–100 kmph, gust

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