Tauktae: 7 killed in Gujarat
At least seven people were killed in Gujarat as cyclone ‘Tauktae’ battered parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction, while the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard have so far rescued 317 people on board two barges that went adrift in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai, officials said on Tuesday.
Gujarat, where the cyclonic storm made a landfall on late Monday night before weakening, bore the brunt of the weather system which caused heavy rains, uprooted electric poles and trees, and damaged several houses and roads.
Tauktae crossed the Gujarat coast as an “extremely severe cyclonic storm” around midnight and gradually weakened into a “severe cyclonic storm,” before further weakening to a “cyclonic storm” now, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Over 16,000 houses were damaged, and more than 40,000 trees and over 1,000 poles uprooted due to the cyclonic storm in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, the cyclonic storm lay centred over Saurashtra, around 75 km south-southwest of Ahmedabad and 40 km west of Surendranagar, and 190 km of Deesa, with the wind intensity now reduced to 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph, the IMD said.
Battling extreme weather, the Indian Navy and Coast Guard have so far rescued 317 people on board two barges that went adrift in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai hours before Cyclone Tauktae made landfall on the Gujarat coast, but 390 more remain stranded or missing from offshore facilities, an official said on Tuesday.
The cyclone sank a barge that had living quarters for employees working offshore, while two other construction barges lost anchors and drifted away. Three barges and an oil rig with 707 personnel on board had gone adrift on Monday. These included accommodation barge P305 with 273 persons, cargo barge GAL Constructor with 137 personnel on board, accommodation barge SS-3 with 196 personnel on board and the Sagar Bhushan oil rig with 101 personnel on board, a Navy official said. While all the 137 people on board the cargo barge GAL Constructor have been rescued, 180 of the 273 onboard P305 have been rescued so far, the official said.SAR has also been augmented with P8I and naval helicopters, who continue to undertake an aerial search in the area. Since the commencement of the SAR from Monday, 180 survivors have been recovered so far, he said.
SAR efforts are also in progress off the coast of Gujarat for three vessels Support Station 3, Great Ship Aditi and Drill Ship Sagar Bhushan, which are 15-20 nautical miles south-east off the coast. The cyclone, whose intensity is similar to the one that hit Gujarat in 1998, has weakened but heavy rain is likely to continue in parts of Gujarat, with wind speeds reaching as high as 125 kilometers per hour, according to IMD. The wind speed is likely to decrease but “astronomical high” tidal waves would continue to inundate coastal areas, it said.