Cyclone Nisarga makes landfall, kills 4 in Maha

■ Cyclone kills 4 across 3 Maha districts, no major impact in Gujarat

Mumbai: Mumbai and its surrounding areas heaved a huge sigh of relief as the cyclonic storm ‘Nisarga’ passed through without causing much damage on Wednesday. Though coastal parts of the state were lashed by heavy rains and gusty winds, Maharashtra remained largely unscathed with no major untoward incident reported. However, over four people died in four cyclone-related incidents in Pune, Raigad and Palghar district. Two men died after an electric pole and a tree fell on them in Alibaug district while two others died in Pune after a wall of their house collapsed.

Mumbai and its surrounding areas heaved a huge sigh of relief as the cyclonic storm ‘Nisarga’ passed through without causing much damage on Wednesday. Though coastal parts of the state were lashed by heavy rains and gusty winds, Maharashtra remained largely unscathed with no major untoward incident reported. However, over four people died in four cyclone-related incidents in Pune, Raigad and Palghar district. Two men died after an electric pole and a tree fell on them in Alibaug district while two others died in Pune after a wall of their house collapsed.

The cyclone did not cause any major damage on the southern coast of Gujarat, officials added.

The Gujarat government had evacuated over 63,700 people from coastal areas of eight districts and 18 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and six teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were deployed for rescue operations.

Cyclone Nisarga made landfall at the coastal town of Alibaug in Raigad district, about 100 kms from south of Mumbai, at around 1 pm with wind speeds of up to 120 kmph. It later moved up and hit the coastal districts of Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar with winds of up to 100 kmph to 110 kmph. Heavy rainfall was also reported in North Maharashtra and Pune.

As many as 75,940 people living near the seashore and landslide prone areas in Mumbai were shifted to safer places by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Milind Borikar, the collector of Mumbai Suburban, said that with the help of the civic body, they have evacuated 12,000 people from coastline areas of Mumbai suburbs, land sliding areas and hilly areas to BMC schools. The civic body is also providing food and water to them.

The flight operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai were kept shut till 7pm in view of the landfall.

— PTI Workers clear an uprooted tree that fell on a road after rains and strong winds triggered by Cyclone Nisarga in Mumbai on Wednesday.

— PTI A man stands near a shanty built on the edge of the Arabian Sea at Bandra, as the sea waves turn choppy ahead of Cyclone Nisarga’s expected landfall, in Mumbai on Wednesday. Cyclone Nisarga made landfall near Mumbai on Wednesday but spared the city already reeling under the Covid-19 pandemic, even as it uprooted trees in nearby Raigad and Palghar districts.