Cyclone Tauktae death toll climbs to 45 in Guj: Official

AHMEDABAD: As many as 45 people have been killed due to cyclone Tauktae across 12 districts of Gujarat, officials said Wednesday.

Fifteen deaths were reported from Amreli district in Saurashtra region, the worst affected in the cyclone that crossed the state coast as an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Monday night and completed landfall around 1.30 am Tuesday, officials said.

Eight people each were killed in Bhavnagar and Gir Somnath coastal districts, an official of the State Emergency Operation Centre said.

Five were killed in Ahmedabad, two in Kheda, and one each in Anand, Vadodara, Surat, Valsad, Rajkot, Navsari and Panchmahal districts, the official said.

While 24 deaths were due to wall collapses during the cyclone, six died after trees fell on them, five each because of house collapse and electrocution, four due to roof collapse and one died due to a tower collapse, the official said

Cyclone weakens; many states to get rain: IMD

Cyclone Tauktae weakened into a “depression” and lay centred over south Rajasthan and adjoining Gujarat region on Wednesday morning, the India Meteorological Department said.

After causing widespread rain in Gujarat, the cyclone is expected to bring showers in many other states also, including Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, due to its interaction with the western disturbance, the IMD said.

The cyclonic “depression” was located around 60 km west-southwest of Udaipur in Rajasthan, and 110 km of Deesa in Gujarat, the IMD said in its morning bulletin.”

The remnant of the system is very likely to move further north eastwards across Rajasthan to west Uttar Pradesh during the next two days,” it said.

The depression will bring light to moderate rainfall at most places in east Rajasthan, with very heavy rainfall at isolated places on Wednesday, the IMD said.