Cyclone Montha weakens after battering India’s eastern coast with rain and wind

Advertisement

Advertise with us

NEW DELHI (AP) — Cyclone Montha was weakening Wednesday after battering India’s eastern cost with torrential rains and gusty winds as relief teams raced to restore power and clear debris across southern Andhra Pradesh and neighboring Odisha state.

Read this article for free:


By clicking the button above, an account will be created and you will begin to receive some of our recommended newsletters. You may opt out of any newsletter by visiting your Email and Communication Preferences page or by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of any email.

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/10/2025 (354 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Cyclone Montha was weakening Wednesday after battering India’s eastern cost with torrential rains and gusty winds as relief teams raced to restore power and clear debris across southern Andhra Pradesh and neighboring Odisha state.

The storm made landfall with top sustained winds of 100 kph (62 mph) late Tuesday night near the port city of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, uprooting trees, damaging roads and flooding low-lying villages before losing some strength as it moved inland.

The storm was likely to move northwest across coastal Andhra Pradesh and southern Telangana state as it weakened to a depression, the Indian Metrological Department said Wednesday. By early morning, the sustained winds had weakened to 83 kph (52 mph).

Evacuated Indian villagers of Uppada eat food in a temporary relief centre as Cyclone Montha, in Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh, India, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo)
Evacuated Indian villagers of Uppada eat food in a temporary relief centre as Cyclone Montha, in Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh, India, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo)

Montha, named by Thailand after a fragrant flower, also caused a storm surge of up to 10 feet (3 meters) in Kakinada and adjoining areas.

Authorities in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha did not immediately confirm deaths from the storm, though local media reported a woman died after a tree crashed onto her home.

Moderate to heavy rains were forecast in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana and Chhattisgarh states until Thursday.

Tens of thousands of people in low-lying areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha had evacuated to relief camps before the storm hit.

India’s disaster management agencies have improved preparedness for tropical cyclones in recent years with effective evacuation plans and early warning systems.

India’s eastern coasts have long been prone to cyclones, but the number of intense storms is increasing along the country’s coast. India’s deadliest cyclone season in recent years was in 2023, killing 523 people and causing an estimated $2.5 billion in damage.

Climate scientists say severe storms are becoming more frequent in South Asia. Global warming driven by planet-heating gases has caused them to become more extreme and unpredictable.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read Preview

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

MOON ALERT: Avoid shopping (except for food and gas and important decisions until after 8:30 a.m. After that, the moon moves from Sagittarius into Capricorn.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

You couldn’t pick a better day for sports training or improving a skill in the arts, music, welding, sculpting, pottery making or doing anything that requires repetition to improve. That’s because you have the patience and the perseverance to keep trying.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:30 PM CDT

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

Get to know your Jet: Neal Pionk

Mike McIntyre 6 minute read Preview

Get to know your Jet: Neal Pionk

Mike McIntyre 6 minute read Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026

“Give it 110 per cent.” “Get pucks in deep.” “One shift at a time.” “Play our game.” “Keep it simple.”

Hockey has a language all its own. Unfortunately, after hearing the same phrases repeated often enough, that language can start to sound a lot like white noise.

So we’re going to try something different.

The Free Press will occasionally sit down with a Winnipeg Jets player at his locker-room stall for a wide-ranging conversation about the stuff you don’t always hear in a media scrum.

Read
Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026

Austen adaptation a handsome, delicate cinematic dance

Alison Gillmour 4 minute read Preview

Austen adaptation a handsome, delicate cinematic dance

Alison Gillmour 4 minute read 4:00 AM CDT

Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) can look rather bedraggled in this new version of Jane Austen’s first published novel, which has once again ignited the “loose hair” controversy that has raged among Janeites since the casually coiffed 2005 reimagining of Pride & Prejudice.

Purists might be vexed, possibly even discomfited or discomposed by some of the details in this take on Sense and Sensibility, part of a wave of Austen adaptations and Austen-adjacent material released to mark the 250th anniversary of the writer’s birth.

Would prudent Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) be penning letters to a man to whom she is not engaged? Would even spirited Marianne be running barefoot through the woods?

Possibly not. But if director Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean) and rookie screenwriter Diana Reid don’t adhere to the strict letter of Austen’s work, they catch much of its spirit. This is a vivid and deeply felt examination of the enduring power of sisterhood, which is at the core of not just the 1811 novel, but of Austen’s own life in the profound importance of her relationship with her sister Cassandra.

Read
4:00 AM CDT

Disgraced ex-dean landed job at German university after fleeing Winnipeg

Maggie Macintosh 8 minute read Preview

Disgraced ex-dean landed job at German university after fleeing Winnipeg

Maggie Macintosh 8 minute read Yesterday at 3:07 PM CDT

Before he was arrested in a posh Paris suburb, the disgraced dean of Manitoba’s only law school — who fled the country following a 2020 expense scandal — kept a low profile at a German university.

Read
Yesterday at 3:07 PM CDT

City’s drug, homelessness crises overlooked on campaign trail, front-line groups say

Scott Billeck 15 minute read Preview

City’s drug, homelessness crises overlooked on campaign trail, front-line groups say

Scott Billeck 15 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:20 PM CDT

Those on the front lines of coping with the city’s deepening homelessness and drug crises express concern at civic election candidates’ lack of attention to the issues

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 12:20 PM CDT