Severe cyclonic storm Montha crossed the central Andhra Pradesh coast in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday said the India Meteorological Department (IMD), clocking wind speeds of 90-100 kilometres per hour and gusts of 110 km/hr.The cyclone, which began making landfall as of 7 pm on Tuesday, hit Andhra Pradesh’s coast near Narsapur sometime between 11:30 pm and 12:30 am on Wednesday, the department said.
Standing crops in up to 38,000 hectares and horticulture crops in as many as 1.38 lakh hectares in Andhra Pradesh were destroyed due to the cyclone, while close to 76,000 people were evacuated to relief camps.
The National Disaster Response Force has deployed 26 teams in light of the storm