 "Cyclone Montha makes landfall on Andhra coast, heavy rain in Odisha")
The landfall process of severe cyclonic storm (SCS) Montha has begun off the Andhra Pradesh coast and it will continue for the next three to four hours, the IMD said on Tuesday. It also brought heavy rain in coastal and southern Odisha districts, causing landslides and damaging houses besides uprooting trees, officials said.
The authorities have cancelled 35 flights in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, around 43 trains were cancelled by the East Coast Railways. Thousands of people were moved to safe zones.
Industry experts blame climate change as a major reason for the rise in cyclonic storms in recent years. This includes a series of oceanic-atmospheric phenomena such as El Niño, Indian Ocean Dipole, and Madden-Julian Oscillation, among others.
According to a report by research agency Climate Trends, around 2.9 million people in Andhra Pradesh are vulnerable to cyclones, as 3.3 million people are living within 5 kilometres of the coastline. It says that coastal Tamil Nadu is also prone to cyclones.
“Cyclones are essentially an intensified form of depressions, which are themselves a natural and regular phenomenon crucial for both the southwest and northeast monsoons. However, climate change is altering this natural cycle — what earlier remained a depression is now more frequently intensifying into a deep depression or a full-fledged cyclonic storm,” said Abinash Mohanty, Global Sector head – Climate Change and Sustainability, IPE Global.