India, Oct. 29 -- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued an orange alert for the Vidarbha region, forecasting moderate to heavy rainfall activity on October 29 under the influence of severe cyclonic storm, 'Montha' over the Bay of Bengal.

According to the IMD's latest weather bulletin, the cyclone intensified into a severe cyclonic storm over west-central Bay of Bengal near latitude 14.9 degrees north and longitude 82.9 degrees east at 8.30 am on October 28. It lay about 160 km south to southeast of Machilipatnam, 240 km south to southeast of Kakinada, and was expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam near Kakinada by Monday evening/night with wind speeds reaching 90 to 100 kmp...