The Severe Cyclonic Storm Montha has begun making landfall along the Andhra Pradesh coast near Kakinada, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) confirming on Tuesday evening that the landfall process has commenced and will continue for the next three to four hours.

In IMD’s 6 pm update, Montha was centered over the westcentral Bay of Bengal near latitude 15.8°N and longitude 82.4°E — about 50 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam, 130 km south of Kakinada, 230 km south-southwest of Visakhapatnam, and 470 km southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha. Moving north-northwestwards at 15 kmph, the storm was expected to cross the coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada as a severe cyclonic storm, with sustained winds of 90–100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph.

The IMD has warned of h

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