Cyclone Tauktae leaves at least 21 dead in Gujarat, Maharashtra
Ahmedabad: As many as 13 people were killed in Gujarat as cyclone Tauktae pummelled parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction along the coast, uprooting electric poles, trees and damaging thousands of houses and roads, officials said on Tuesday.
In Maharashtra, eight people were reported dead in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts.
Meanwhile, government sources said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat and Diu on Wednesday to personally review the situation there and the damage wrought by the cyclone.
In what was one of the worst cyclones faced by Gujarat, Tauktae triggered heavy rains in many parts along its way from the Saurashtra coast to North Gujarat with as many as 46 talukas receiving over 100 mm of downpour, while 12 of them recorded 150 mm to 175 mm of rains.
Tauktae, characterised as an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Monday, has now weakened into a "cyclonic storm" and will gradually become a "deep depression" as it moves northwards, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Even as Tauktae's intensity weakened, it left behind a trail of destruction with as many as 13 people losing their lives in different parts of Gujarat, including Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Patan, Amreli and Valsad, officials said.
Over 16,000 houses were damaged, more than 40,000 trees and over 70,000 electric poles uprooted, while 5,951 villages faced total power blackout due to the cyclonic storm in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said.
As of Tuesday evening, the cyclonic storm lay centred over Saurashtra, around 35km west of Ahmedabad, 80km east- northeast of Surendranagar, and 120 km south-southeast of Deesa, with the wind intensity now reduced to 60-70 kmph gusting to 80 kmph, the IMD said. The cyclone completed the landfall in Gujarat at 1:30 am on Tuesday, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Pankaj Kumar said, adding districts of Amreli, Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Porbandar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, and Botad in Saurashtra were the worst affected by the natural disaster.
Rupani told reporters that 5,951 villages suffered blackout and work was underway to restore power supply in 3,850 of them.
Around 70,000 electric poles fell and four 220-KV sub stations were yet to restart out of five that suffered damage due to the storm, the chief minister said.
He said 68 out of 165 66-KV sub stations were also damaged and later made functional. Rupani said out of 425 COVID-19 hospitals located in the affected areas, 122 suffered power blackout, out of which electricity supply in 83 was restored, and 39 others were working on backup arrangements.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Tuesday rescued eight fishermen onboard a fishing boat that drifted into the sea off the coast of Veraval harbour due to the cyclone, officials said.
Meanwhile, battling extreme weather, the Indian Navy and Coast Guard have so far rescued 317 people on board two barges that went adrift in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai hours before Cyclone Tauktae made landfall on the Gujarat coast, but 390 more remain stranded or missing from offshore facilities.
The accommodation barge P305 which was servicing ONGC offshore operations has sunk, the official said, adding 180 of the 273 personnel on board were rescued till late evening.
Three barges and an oil rig with 707 personnel on board went adrift on Monday. These included barge P305 with 273 persons, cargo barge GAL Constructor with 137 personnel on board, accommodation barge SS-3 with 196 personnel on board and the Sagar Bhushan oil rig with 101 personnel on board, a Navy official said.
While all the 137 people on board the cargo barge GAL Constructor were rescued, 180 of the 273 onboard P305 have been rescued so far, the official said.
"Two Coast Guard Chetak helicopters operating from the Coast Guard Air station in Daman rescued personnel on board the GAL Constructor. One more Chetak helicopter was also pressed into service for the SAR operations," he said.
"Navy ships INS Beas, INS Betwa and INS Teg joined INS Kochi and INS Kolkata for undertaking Search and Rescue (SAR) operations for Barge P-305, which sank 35 nautical miles from Mumbai in the Mumbai Offshore Development Area," the Navy spokesperson said.
SAR has also been augmented with P8I and naval helicopters, who continue to undertake an aerial search in the area. Since the commencement of the SAR from Monday, 180 survivors have been recovered so far, he said.
"In another operation, a Navy Seaking helicopter was launched to rescue the crew of GAL Constructor, which ran aground north of Mumbai. It rescued 35 crew members," he said.
SAR efforts are also in progress off the coast of Gujarat for three vessels - Support Station 3, Great Ship Aditi and Drill Ship Sagar Bhushan, which are 15-20 nautical miles south-east off Gujarat coast (Pipavav), he said.
Pipavav port, an all-weather port located 152 nautical miles from Nhava Sheva port near Mumbai," the official said.
"Navy ship INS Talwar has arrived in the area and taken over the duties of 'On-Scene Coordinator' for coordination of the SAR effort. The Western Naval Command, in coordination with ONGC and DG shipping has diverted five tugs to render assistance.
"Great Ship Aditi and Support Station 3 have been able to drop anchor. Meanwhile, OSV's Samudra Sevak and SV Cheel are connected to manoeuvre Sagar Bhushan, and the situation at present appears to be stable.
In another incident, at least 29 persons aboard three vessels which went adrift due to cyclone Tauktae in the Arabian sea were rescued jointly by the Mumbai Police, CISF and Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders near Angre jetty here on Tuesday.
All the three vessels- two of them fishing boats- went adrift in the sea after their anchors broke in the cyclone.
The remnant of the weather system is very likely to move north-eastwards across Rajasthan to west Uttar Pradesh during May 19 and 20, said the Ministry of Home Ministry in its advisory.
