Cyclone Tauktae, classified as an extremely severe cyclonic storm with gusty winds up to 185 kmph, made landfall at coastal towns of Gujarat Monday night at around 8:30 PM after dumping heaving rains and killing at least six persons in neighbouring Maharashtra.
The weather department stated the the landfall process will be continued for three to four hours, which are said to be critical for the state, which is already reeling with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The cyclone has forced the state government to evacuate over 2 lakh people from low-lying areas and living in kuccha houses. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who is monitoring the situation from the Gandhinagar control room, said that reports disruption of power supply and uprooting of trees have been reported. He said that the cyclone with heavy rains and winds will continue to lash various parts of the state till 1 AM.
India Meteorological Department in its latest update stated that the centre of the cyclone was 35 km east-southeast of Diu, a union territory bordering the state. It said that in next three hours the storm will cross Saurashtra to east of Diu. Coastal districts such as Porbandar, Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Devbhumi Dwarka are likely to be worst affected. Besides, Botad, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Anand and Ahmedabad districts will be impacted.
Following instructions from IMD, the Gujarat Maritime Board, the regulatory body of ports in the state, issued hoisting of warning signal-10 at ports falling in the direction of the cyclone. According to government officials, the cyclone is looking "extremely dangerous" and may be as devastating as the cyclone of 1998.
In view of the approaching cyclone, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told reporters that 2 lakh people had been shifted from low lying areas to safer places to 930 shelter homes and all 1,400 designated Covid-19 hospitals have been asked to keep power backup in case of power cuts due to the storm. Pankaj Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Home, said in a statement that people had been shifted to safer places from 655 villages of 17 district which are likely to be affected.
"Keeping in mind all the possibilities in view of the approaching storm, government is prepared to manage the crisis. We have shifted maximum people from coastal areas which are likely to be affected due to strong wind and heavy rains. So far, 1.5 lakh people from these areas have been shifted to safer locations. I appeal to people who are living along the coastline not to venture out," Rupani told reporters.
He said that the state is going through an "extraordinary time" caused by coronavirus infection and cyclonic storm brewing in the Arabian sea. He said that 444 medical teams, 174 ICU on wheels and 607 emergency medical service 108 have been put on stand-by mode to take care of any situation that might arise due to the storm. In Covid-19 hospitals staffs have been trained and oxygen reserves and power backups have been arranged to tackle any crisis."
A government statement said that that 44 teams of NDRF and 10 teams of SDRF have been deployed for rescue operations. Besides, local police, coastguard and fire brigade officials have also been deputed for assistance. The army, air force and navy have also been instructed to be on stand-by. The government's note added that nearly 2,800 hoardings have been removed from urban and rural areas to avoid any untoward incident in view of the cyclone.
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