Cyclone threat for navy barge

MUMBAI: Cyclone Tauktae hit Mumbai with full fury bringing heavy rains and gales of over 75-85 km/h, which wreaked havoc by uprooting scores of trees, damaged some homes, and disrupted road traffic, though there were no human casualties, officials said yesterday.

In an alarming development, the Indian Navy has despatched two ships to rescue around 273 personnel of the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation who are stranded on a drifting barge near the Bombay High Fields, around 175km off Mumbai, in the direct path of the cyclone whirling towards Gujarat in the choppy Arabian Sea.

There are reports of at least two deaths – one of a youth in Navi Mumbai and another of a woman in a wall crash in Raigad – but officials have not confirmed this so far.

The India Meteorological Department yesterday afternoon upgraded the warnings for Mumbai with “extremely heavy rainfall” with gusty winds that will escalate up to 120 km/h, said an official.

Categorised now as “Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm”, its effects were felt shortly after midnight of Sunday-Monday with many areas lashed by heavy rains, accompanied by lightning and thunder in some places, aggravated by powerful winds, as it whirled northwards.

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