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HYDERABAD: India moved 50,000 people to relief camps on Monday as it began evacuations a day before Cyclone Montha, intensifying over the Bay of Bengal, is set to bring strong winds and heavy rains to its east coast, officials said.
Authorities canceled holidays for emergency staff and ordered schools and colleges to close in coastal areas of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and the eastern state of Odisha forecast to be hit by the harsh weather.
The cyclone is likely to turn into a severe storm by Tuesday, before crossing the coast of Andhra Pradesh later in the day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
“Evacuation of people from near the coast in Kakinada district has already started,” a disaster management official in Andhra Pradesh told Reuters.
Nearly 50,000 people have been moved to relief camps, a government report showed.
Disaster teams have fanned out to move families from low-lying areas in Andhra Pradesh, where the government expects 3.9 million people to be affected.
Fishermen in the neighboring state of Odisha were warned to avoid venturing to sea.
Cyclones frequently hit India’s east coast between April and December. A super cyclone that killed nearly 10,000 when it hit Odisha in October 1999 remains one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters.
Authorities in the southern state of Tamil Nadu have urged people to keep alert following forecasts for heavy to very heavy rain in some districts.
Chennai, the state capital, is prone to flooding during intense rains, such as those brought by Cyclone Michaung in 2023.
In the Himalayan nation of Nepal, disaster authorities have warned of possible rain and snowfall from Tuesday through Friday and advised trekkers to keep alert.
Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains across Nepal killed 53 people this month.

Former President Joe Biden called these “dark days” as he urged Americans to stay optimistic and not to check out in response to what he says are attacks on free speech and tests on the limits of executive power by President Donald Trump.
“Since its founding, America served as a beacon for the most powerful idea ever in government in the history of the world,” Biden said. “The idea is stronger than any army. We’re more powerful than a dictator.”
Biden, 82, speaking publicly for the first time since completing a round of radiation therapy for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, addressed an audience in Boston on Sunday night after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.
He said America depends on a presidency with limited power, a functioning Congress and an autonomous judiciary. With the federal government facing its second-longest shutdown on record, Trump has used the funding laps as way to exercise new command over the government.
“Friends, I can’t sugar coat any of this. These are dark days” Biden said before predicting the country would “find our true compass again” and “emerge as we always have — stronger, wiser and more resilient, more just, so long as we keep the faith.”
Biden listed examples of people who are standing their ground against threats from the current administration, citing the example of federal employees who resign in protest, and universities and comedians that have been targeted by Trump.
“The late night hosts continue to shine a light on free speech knowing their careers are on the line,” he said.
Biden also shouted out elected Republican officials who vote or openly go against the Trump administration.
“America is not a fairy tale,” he said. “For 250 years, it’s been a constant push and pull, an existential struggle between peril and possibility.”
He finished the speech by telling people to “get back up.”
The Democrat left office in January after serving one term in the White House. Biden dropped his bid for reelection after facing pressure following a disastrous debate against Trump and concerns about his age, health and mental fitness. Vice President Kamala Harris launched her bid right after, but lost to Trump last November.
In May, Biden’s post presidential office announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and that it had spread to his bones.
Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what is known as a Gleason score. The scores range from 6 to 10, with 8, 9 and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively. Biden’s office said his score was 9.