Cyclone Montha intensified late Sunday night over the southwest Bay of Bengal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared Monday morning. It is likely to continue moving northwest towards India’s east coast, strengthening into a ‘severe’ cyclone by Tuesday morning, as per the IMD.

The storm will later cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, close to Kakinada, sometime during evening or night hours on Tuesday, the IMD said in its 4 am national bulletin. At the time of the cyclone landfall, squally winds with speeds of 90 to 100 km/hr gusting to 110 km/hr are likely.

According to satellite imagery updates available with the IMD at 2.30 am on Monday, Cyclone Montha was located 600 km east-southeast of Chennai , 680 km south-southeast of Kakinada in

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