Before dawn on a Monday in late October, the India Meteorological Department gave a name to a storm that had been gathering over the Bay of Bengal, a churning mass of air and water now called Montha. It is the familiar way of the monsoon-season seas: a depression grows, is given a name, and begins a slow walk toward human shores whose people must prepare for what the sky has not yet delivered. Along the Andhra Pradesh coast, around Kakinada, the storm is expected to arrive in the evening or night of October 28 as a severe cyclonic storm, and rain has already begun to fall on the land that wait
Deep Depression Intensifies into Cyclonic Storm Montha, Bearing Down on Andhra Pradesh Coast
Rain has already begun to fall in parts of Andhra Pradesh.
Mark
So what actually changed overnight?
Mimi
The IMD's 25th bulletin, sent at 2.24 a.m. on Monday, said the deep depression had become a cyclonic storm, named Montha.
Mark
Where is it right now?
Mimi
About 600 km east-southeast of Chennai and 680 km south-southeast of Kakinada as of 2.30 a.m., moving west-northwestwards at 16 kmph.
Mark
And the forecast?
Mimi
A Severe Cyclonic Storm by Tuesday morning, crossing the coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada on the evening or night of October 28.
Luke
Worth stressing that's a forecast. The IMD says it is very likely to cross there, with winds of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110. Those are projections, not observations.
Mark
Is any rain actually falling?
Mimi
Yes. Prathipadu in Kakinada district logged around 79.5 mm, Kurrapalle in Nellore 64.5 mm, Chinnachepalle in Kadapa 41.5 mm, per the Directorate of Economics and Statistics.
Luke
Those are early readings from before the storm is close. They don't tell us how much more is coming.
Mark
What is the state doing?
Mimi
Prakhar Jain of the APSDMA said 9 SDRF and 7 NDRF teams are ready, with extremely heavy rain expected Monday in seven districts.
Luke
The source doesn't say where those teams are deployed or whether any evacuations are planned. That's still unknown.
Le Pouls
- A storm named Montha, now a cyclonic system, is closing in on the Andhra Pradesh coast with winds forecast to gust to 110 kmph.
- Rain has already soaked parts of the state, with Prathipadu recording nearly 80 mm in a single day.
- Seven districts from Kakinada to Nellore face extremely heavy rainfall, and disaster teams are being placed on standby.
- Nine state and seven national response teams are readied as the storm strengthens toward a landfall expected on the night of October 28.
- The exact point of crossing between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam remains the open question that forecasters will refine in coming bulletins.
Before dawn on a Monday in late October, the India Meteorological Department gave a name to a storm that had been gathering over the Bay of Bengal, a churning mass of air and water now called Montha. It is the familiar way of the monsoon-season seas: a depression grows, is given a name, and begins a slow walk toward human shores whose people must prepare for what the sky has not yet delivered. Along the Andhra Pradesh coast, around Kakinada, the storm is expected to arrive in the evening or night of October 28 as a severe cyclonic storm, and rain has already begun to fall on the land that waits for it.
At 2.24 a.m. on Monday, October 27, the India Meteorological Department issued its 25th bulletin, declaring that a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal had intensified into a cyclonic storm. It has been named Montha. When the bulletin was issued, the storm was still hundreds of kilometres away, centred southeast of Chennai and Visakhapatnam, and moving slowly west-northwestward over open water.
The forecast now turns toward the land. By the morning of October 28, Montha is expected to become a Severe Cyclonic Storm, and then to bend north-northwestward and cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, around Kakinada, on the evening or night of that day. Winds of 90 to 100 kmph, gusting to 110 kmph, are expected at landfall.
The rain has already begun. In the past day, Prathipadu in Kakinada district recorded close to 80 mm, while Kurrapalle in Nellore and Chinnachepalle in Kadapa also saw heavy totals. In the state's disaster offices, Managing Director Prakhar Jain has readied nine State Disaster Response Force teams and seven National Disaster Response Force teams, as extremely heavy rain is forecast for seven coastal and inland districts on Monday.
What happens next depends on two things: whether the storm strengthens as predicted on Tuesday morning, and precisely where it comes ashore. The coming bulletins will tell the people of the coast how much of the sea's force is headed their way.
At 2.24 a.m. on Monday, October 27, 2025, the India Meteorological Department sent out its 25th bulletin on a system that had been building over the Bay of Bengal. The deep depression, it said, had intensified into a cyclonic storm. Its name is Montha.
The positions the IMD gave show how far the storm still had to travel. At 11.30 p.m. it was centred over the southwest and southeast Bay of Bengal, about 640 km east-southeast of Chennai, 710 km southeast of Kakinada, 740 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam and 860 km south of Gopalpur in Odisha. By 2.30 a.m. it had moved west-northwestwards at 16 kmph over the previous three hours. It then lay about 600 km east-southeast of Chennai, 680 km south-southeast of Kakinada, 710 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, 790 km west of Port Blair and 850 km south of Gopalpur.
The 3 a.m. bulletin laid out what the department expects next. Over the following 12 hours the storm is likely to keep moving west-northwestwards over the southwest and west-central Bay of Bengal. By the morning of October 28 it is forecast to strengthen into a Severe Cyclonic Storm.
After that, the IMD expects the track to bend north-northwestwards. The storm is very likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, around Kakinada, on the evening or night of October 28. The department expects it to make landfall as a Severe Cyclonic Storm, with maximum sustained winds of 90-100 kmph, gusting to 110 kmph.
Rain has already begun to fall in parts of Andhra Pradesh. According to the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Prathipadu in Kakinada district recorded around 79.5 mm between 8.30 a.m. on October 26 and 6 a.m. on October 27. Kurrapalle in SPSR Nellore district received 64.5 mm, and Chinnachepalle in YSR Kadapa district 41.5 mm. Rainfall started in a few districts around Sunday night.
The state's disaster machinery is being readied. Prakhar Jain, Managing Director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, said 9 State Disaster Response Force teams and 7 National Disaster Response Force teams have been kept ready. The reason is the forecast of extremely heavy rainfall on Monday, October 27, in seven districts: Kakinada, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema, West Godavari, Krishna, Bapatla, Prakasam and Nellore.
What to watch now is the storm's intensification into a severe cyclonic storm on Tuesday morning, and then the exact point of landfall along the stretch between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam on the evening or night of October 28. The IMD's subsequent bulletins will refine both.
Citations marquantes
Nine State Disaster Response Force teams and seven National Disaster Response Force teams have been kept ready for extremely heavy rainfall in seven districts.— Prakhar Jain, Managing Director, APSDMA
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