Western coast on edge as cyclone intensifies
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI/BENGALURU/PANAJI: Heavy rain, high tidal waves and winds gusting up to 140-165 kmph swept past India’s western coast as the severe cyclonic storm Tauktae hurled towards Gujarat’s coast, gaining intensity and causing extensive damage in coastal areas of three other states on its way.
At least six people – two in Goa and four in Karnataka – died in rain-related incidents and dozens more were injured on Sunday, state officials said.
Hundreds of houses were damaged due to rain and waterlogging, trees uprooted and electricity supply disrupted in parts of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa – which bore the brunt of the storm’s intensity on Sunday. Maharashtra and Gujarat, next in the storm’s path, also stepped up efforts to prepare for possible impact.
“Tauktae will intensify fur
ther while on its track and cross the Gujarat coast with a speed of 155 to 165kmph gusting to 185kmph. We are not expecting it to become a super cyclone but it is a big and intense system,” said Sunitha Devi, incharge of cyclones at the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Hundreds of people were evacuated from coastal regions across the states, which are also burdened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Around a hundred teams of the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF), teams of the Indian Army, Navy and Coast Guard along with ships and aircraft have been deployed for rescue and relief operations.
Weather scientists on Sunday warned that Cyclone Tauktae – which has been categorised as a “very severe” cyclonic storm – is gaining intensity and is likely to make landfall on Gujarat’s coast with wind speeds up to 155185kmph by Tuesday afternoon.
According to IMD, large-scale destruction is expected over Porbandar, Amreli, Junagarh, Gir, Somnath, Botad, Bhavnagar and coastal areas of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
The cyclone, which began as a low pressure area over Lakshadweep and southeast Arabian sea earlier, turned into a depression and evolved into a cyclone moving towards the north on Saturday. “Tauktae intensified by 65kmph in the last 24 hours, fuelled by heat and energy from the ocean,” Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said on Sunday.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday held a meeting with chief ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra and the administrator of Daman and Diu, and Dadra Nagar Haveli to review preparedness before the cyclone makes its presence felt higher up along the western coast.
At the meeting, Shah directed the state governments to ensure there is adequate power back-up in all facilities that are dealing with Covid-19 patients.
In Kerala, where thunderstorms began on Friday night, there was widespread waterlogging and the state government sounded an alert after water levels rose in several dams across the state.
Strong winds and heavy rain lashed parts of Goa on Sunday morning, killing two people in related accidents along with snapping electricity supply and uprooting trees.
“Two people lost their lives – a woman, in her 30s, died after a coconut tree fell on her in north Goa’s Mapusa and a scooter passenger in Marcel (also in north Goa) succumbed to injuries after being hit by an electric pole,” chief minister Pramod Sawant said at a press briefing in Panaji on Sunday.
Power supply in a majority of areas in Goa was disrupted as hundreds of electric poles were uprooted due to the high-speed winds, state power minister Nilesh Cabral told PTI.
In Karnataka, more than 98 villages in seven districts -including Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Hassan – reported widespread damage after heavy rains, State Disaster Management Authority officials said.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday sounded an alert for Mumbai and the four coastal districts of Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.
In Gujarat, where the cyclone is now heading, the government mobilised the authorities on Sunday to shift around 150,000 people out of low-lying areas and deployed over 50 NDRF and SDRF teams.