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