Bengaluru weather: Both urban and rural districts face flash flood risk as Cyclone Montha intensifies ahead of landfall

As Cyclone Montha nears landfall, Bengaluru residents are worried about its widespread impact on Karnataka. It is apparent to be concerned about its impact as the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal intensified into “severe” cyclonic storm. It was centred near latitude 14 degrees North and longitude 83.5 degrees East on 27 October at 11:30 pm, as per IMD's latest update.

With maximum sustained wind speeds of 90-100 kmph, gusting to 110 kmph, Cyclone Montha is expected to make landfall on the evening or night of 28 October near Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada, between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, about 200 km from Odisha's Malkangiri.

The cyclonic storm located “280 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 360 km south-southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 410 km south of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 610 km south-southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha)” is gaining strength for the ultimate landfall.

Flash flood warning for Bangalore Rural and Banglore Urban

For October 28, IMD issued yellow alert predicting light to moderate rainfall, thunderstorm at many places with isolated heavy rainfall over Coastal , Malnad and South Interior Karnataka.

The weather agency in its latest press release predicted low to moderate flash flood risk in low-lying areas, few watersheds and their neighbourhoods. Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Kolar and Ramnagar districts of south interior Karnataka are at risk, IMD said. Several low-lying areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are also at risk of flash floods.

Furthermore, the prevailing weather system is expected to cause squally weather with wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph along and off Karnataka coasts. Maximum winds speed of 60 kmph is expected to significantly affect several districts. “Isolated heavy rainfall” is likely in coastal Karnataka today.

The press release dated October 28 states, “Light to moderate rain/thundershowers likely to occur at a few places over Ballari, Bengaluru (Rural), Bengaluru (Urban), Chamarajanagara, Chikkaballapura, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Hassan, Kodagu, Kolar, Mandya, Mysuru, Ramanagara, Shivamogga, Tumakuru and Vijayanagara districts.”

Bengaluru International Airport monitoring station recorded 26.5 degrees Celsius maximum temperature, marking 2.7 degrees Celsius departure from normal.

Besides weather warning for Karnataka, the IMD has issued weather alerts for various districts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Kerala, where Cyclone Montha is expected to have a significant impact.

As per IMD, heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over:

Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Mahe, Coastal Karnataka: October 28

Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh: Until October 30