India, Oct. 26 -- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has put Bengaluru and several districts of Karnataka on alert as a deep depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal moves closer to the coast, with forecasts suggesting it will intensify into Cyclone Montha in the next 24 hours.

At 8:30 am on October 26, the weather system was located about 620 km west of Port Blair, 780 km east-southeast of Chennai, and 830 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, moving west-northwest at around 6 km per hour, the IMD's daily weather bulletin noted. The agency said it is likely to develop into a cyclonic storm by Monday (October 27) and further strengthen into a severe cyclone by Tuesday (October 28).

Cyclone Montha is expected to make landfall be...