Cyclone Montha: Rain, landslides damage roads, bridge and houses in Odisha

Several parts of Odisha on Wednesday experienced light to moderate rain as the severe cyclonic storm Montha weakened into a deep depression and caused landslides, damaging roads, bridges and houses in southern districts, officials said.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari thanked Lord Jagannath as the severe cyclonic storm slightly changed its anticipated landfall place in Andhra Pradesh coast at a distance of about 300 kilometer from Odisha's Malkangiri district.

“The change in the cyclone's trajectory spared Odisha from severe devastation. Cyclone Montha changed its course and touched land near Amalapuram instead of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, reducing the potential impact on Odisha. Kakinada is about 200 kilometres from Malkangiri,” Pujari told reporters after taking stock of the situation.

The minister said that the state government had made preparations keeping in view the IMD forecast and was prepared to face the eventuality.

Replying to a question on the change of expected landfall place, Dr Manorama Mohanty, the director of the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre, said, “The cyclone's landfall has occurred within the areas of the cone of uncertainty. There has been no deviation. However, many scientific factors are there for a slight change in the trajectory of the system.”

The 'cone of uncertainty' is the projected path and intensity of a storm.

Meanwhile, in a revised forecast, the IMD issued a ‘yellow alert' for five southern Odisha districts — Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur — that is likely to experience heavy rain. Earlier, the Met Office had said the region would face extremely heavy rainfall and issued a ‘red alert' (meaning: take action).

The IMD revised the forecast considering the movement of the system which has so far weakened into a deep depression.

“We have issued a 'yellow' warning (be aware) of heavy rainfall, very likely to occur at isolated places in Ganjam, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajpati, Kalahandi, and Nawarangpur districts,” said Mohanty, said.

While briefing the media, Pujari recalled the 1999 super cyclone that hit Odisha on this day, October 29, and left around 10,000 people dead.

“We are encountering a similar cyclone situation on October 29, 2025, but there has been no report of any human casualty so far,” the minister said, adding that the cyclone preparedness measures were made remembering the 1999 super cyclone incident.

Pujari, however, said that there have been reports of house collapse, tree falling, landslide and damage of roads and others. He informed reporters that Cyclone Montha has impacted people in 33 blocks and 11 urban local bodies in Odisha.

A total of 2,198 pregnant women were shifted to safer locations as part of the state's evacuation efforts, he said.

He said the government opened as many as 362 free kitchens where cooked food was provided to 18,762 people, staying at the cyclone centres.

The minister said that there is also no fear from rains as the amount of rainfall was less than 200 mm. Gosani block in Gajapati district recorded the highest rainfall of around 150 mm followed by Patrapur in Ganjam at 117.4 mm, while 56 other blocks experienced rainfall ranging between 50 mm and 100 mm.

While stating that wind speed was also manageable, the minister said that a few places in Ganjam, Gajapati, Balasore and some other districts experienced power outage, which was restored within hours due to pre-planning and preparations. Roads blocked by uprooted trees were also immediately cleared. A total of 33 ODRAF, 5 NDRF and 13 Fire Services teams were deployed for rescue and restoration work, he said.

The minister, however, said that Odisha will remain on high alert till October 31 as the rain warning continues.

“Damage assessment of crop, houses, roads, and other public infrastructure will begin from tomorrow,” he said, adding that there are reports of damage to paddy, cotton and vegetable crops.

The affected people will be provided assistance as per the norm directly to their bank accounts. Polythene sheets have been distributed to households whose walls were damaged in the calamity, the minister said.

He said normalcy will be restored across the state by October 31.

Tata Power Southern Odisha Distribution Limited, in a statement, said the company has successfully restored electricity supply to more than 9.50 lakh consumers out of the 9.88 lakh affected, within just 18 hours of the cyclone's peak impact.