JOIN USCyclone Nisarga will be first big cyclone to hit Mumbai
When Cyclone Nisarga makes landfall, it would perhaps be the first time in recent history that a cyclone would hit Mumbai.
The cyclone is expected to make a landfall in Maharashtra's coastal Konkan region, particularly the Palghar district, that comes under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
According to IMD records, in the last over a century's time, Mumbai and its suburbs, have not experienced such a cyclone.
"In the recent past there has not been any record of a big cyclone like this," said Dr VK Rajeev, former director of IMD-Mumbai. If one surfs the Internet, one gets umpteen references to Great Bombay Cyclone of 1882, but research had found it to be "hoax" or "fictitious", if one goes by a study conducted by Colombia University, New York, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.
In November 2009, Cyclone Phyan had hit the Maharashtra coast during when Mumbai experienced heavy rainfall but no major damage was reported in India's commercial capital.