Over 18 dead as Tauktae leaves trail of destruction
Cyclonic storm intensity weakens from ‘extremely severe’ to ‘very severe’
A cyclone on India’s west coast has killed at least 18 people and damaged infrastructure and agriculture, while heavy rains continued to lash some regions even as weather officials said on Tuesday that the storm’s intensity had weakened.
Cyclone Tauktae, which made landfall on the coast of Gujarat late on Monday, has hit power supply in 2,400 villages in the state as a thousand electricity pylons were damaged, chief minister Vijay Rupani said in a media briefing. Nearly 160 roads have been destroyed, 40,000 trees uprooted and several houses damaged, Rupani added.
“Heavy rains and wind speeds of up to 100-110 kmph are continuing at many places, and the whole administration remains on standby to deal with any situation,” he added.
More than 200,000 people had been evacuated from their homes
The cyclone which was categorised as “extremely severe” weakened to a “very severe” storm after making landfall, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The intensity is set to reduce further by Tuesday night, it added.
Many areas of Ahmedabad were inundated with knee-deep
water following incessant downpour since Tuesday afternoon as the cyclone passed northward along the district’s periphery. The city received a staggering 75.69 mm of rain between 6 am and 4 pm, said municipal commissioner Mukesh Kumar. The rain intensified after 3 pm as forecast by IMD, he said.
“Over one inches (30 mm) of rain in the last one hour (till 4 pm) alongwith high speed winds at 55 to 60 kilometres per hour. Total three inches of rain since morning,” he tweeted.
Tauktae, the most powerful cyclone in more than two decades, piles pressure on India which is already grappling with a staggering spike in coronavirus cases and deaths as well as a shortage of beds and oxygen in hospitals.
A survey has also been initiated in Gujarat to ascertain the agricultural losses due to the cyclone.
“The standing crops would have suffered definite losses, especially in areas of Saurashtra where the cyclone hit the hardest,” said Manish Bhardwaj, principal secretary at the state agriculture department.
Before reaching Gujarat, the cyclone left a trail of destruction as it brushed past the coastal states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, as well as Maharashtra, authorities said.
Tauktae claimed three lives and left 10 others injured in Mumbai over the last 24 hours when it passed close to the city coast, civic officials said on Tuesday. The sea here has been very rough due to the impact of the cyclone and the huge tidal waves on Monday dumped garbage at chowpatties, Marine Drive and the iconic Gateway of India, they said.
Elsewhere in Maharashtra, five persons were killed in Thane and Palghar districts in various incidents related to the cyclonic storm, officials said. While two persons were killed in Vasai taluka, three others died in Thane district, they said.
In Gujarat, no damages have been reported at the refineries and sea ports that were expected to be in the storm’s path.
At the Jamnagar refinery, the world’s biggest oil refinery complex, no damage was reported. Operations at the Mundra port, India’s largest private port, have resumed, a port official said.
The Kandla Port, the largest government-run port in the country, has however not resumed operations till this report went to press as wind speeds of more than 70 kmph made it unsafe to do so, port officials said.