India has moved 50,000 people to relief camps as it begins evacuations a day before Cyclone Montha, which is intensifying over the Bay of Bengal, brings strong winds and heavy rains to its east coast.

Authorities cancelled 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 said.

"Evacuation of people from near the coast in Kakinada district has already started," a disaster management official in Andhra Pradesh told Reuters on Monday.

Some 50,000 people have been moved to relief ca

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