Severe cyclonic storm Montha is likely to maintain the intensity for a period of six hours after its landfall over interior Andhra Pradesh and the adjoining areas including south Odisha, the Meteorological Department said on Tuesday. The Met Department forecast very likely light to moderate rainfall at most places in Andhra Pradesh and Yanam and heavy to very rainfall at a few places till October 29. Similarly, it forecast extremely heavy rainfall of greater than 20 cm at isolated places during the same period. "The severe cyclonic storm Montha is likely to maintain the intensity of a cyclonic storm for a period of six hours after the landfall over interior Andhra Pradesh and adjoining areas of south Odisha, south Chhattisgarh and Telangana," a Met Department press release said. For October 30, it forecast light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The Meteorological Department in its bulletin issued at 10:50 pm on Tuesday said Montha`s landfall, which began around 7:30 pm on Tuesday, will continue for another two to three hours.

A Met Department official told PTI that the radius of the weather system alone stretches up to 300 km in length, indicating the time it would take for the entire severe cyclonic storm to cross the southern state`s coast. Meanwhile, the weather system over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a speed of 15 kmph in the past six hours and lay centred at 10:30 pm on Tuesday over the same region, close to Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts. It is located about 100 km south to southwest of Kakinada, 50 km east of Machilipatnam, 480 km southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 240 km southwest of Visakhapatnam. "It is likely to move northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, south of Kakinada during the next two hours as a severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph and gusting up to 110 kmph," said the Met Department. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a teleconference with village and ward secretariat personnel from the Real Time Governance System (RTGS) in the secretariat. The CM said the impact of Montha is being felt in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema districts also.