The landfall process of the eye of cyclone Tauktae ended around Monday midnight. (FILE)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat and Diu on today to personally review the situation there and the damage wrought by cyclone Tauktae. PM Modi will leave New Delhi around 9:30 am and land at Bhavnagar, from where he will proceed for an aerial survey of Una, Diu, Jafarabad, and Mahuva. He will also hold a review meeting at Ahmedabad.
Cyclone Tauktae weakened into a "depression" and lay centred over south Rajasthan and adjoining Gujarat region on Wednesday morning, the India Meteorological Department said. After causing widespread rain in Gujarat, the cyclone is expected to bring showers in many other states also, including Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, due to its interaction with the western disturbance, the IMD said.
At least seven people were killed in Gujarat as the cyclone battered parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction along the coast, uprooting electric poles and trees, and damaging several houses and roads, officials said.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that despite such a high-intensity cyclone hitting the state, his government managed to prevent any major loss to life or property as over two lakh people were already shifted to safer places.
Here are the highlights on Cyclone Tauktae:
Light to moderate intensity rain in Atrauli, Jattari, Khurja, Jajau, Agra, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Mathura, Raya, Barsana, Nandgaon (UP); Viratnagar, Kotputli, Khairthal, Bhiwari, Mahandipur Balaji, Mahawa, Nadbai, Nagaur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Deeg(Rajasthan) during next 2 hours: IMD
Cyclone Tauktae To Weaken Gradually In Next Few Hours: Weather OfficeCyclone Tauktae will move North-Northeastwards and weaken gradually into a deep depression in the next three hours, informed the India Meteorological Department on Wednesday.
While the Indian Navy continues to carry out its rescue operations near the Western coastline, the meteorological department in a tweet informed, "Deep Depression (Remnants of Tauktae) over Gujarat region lay centered at 2330 hours IST of the 18th May, 2021 is about 110 km north-northeast of Ahmedabad. It is likely to weaken gradually into a Depression during next 06 hours."
Ahmedabad airport ops suspended for seven hours due to cycloneThe Ahmedabad airport suspended its operations for seven hours on Tuesday as a precautionary measure due to cyclone Tauktae, an official said. The airport resumed operations at 5 on early Tuesday morning after remaining shut from 7.30 pm on Monday. But the operations were again suspended at 3 pm as the cyclone brought heavy winds and rain to the city.
The operations resumed at 10 pm. The cyclone made landfall on the Gujarat coast on Monday night and proceeded as a very severe cyclonic stormbefore weakening gradually.
Cyclone: 29 persons aboard three vessels rescued in MumbaiAt 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 in Mumbai on Tuesday, officials said.
All the three vessels- two of them fishing boats- went adrift in the sea after their anchors broke in the cyclone they said.
MV Saraswati and MV Kajal with 22 people on board went adrift near Mazagaon Dock Limited (MDL), an official said. MV Saraswati is a shipping survey boat of the Central government, he said.
PM Modi To Visit Gujarat, Diu Tomorrow To Review Cyclone Tauktae DamagePrime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat and Diu tomorrow to review the damage caused by Cyclone Tauktae that swept across the country's western coast yesterday and made landfall on the coast of his home state late in the night.
The storm has led to several deaths and damage over the past many hours, forcing the country to call in its security forces to help with rescue and salvage operations.
After-effects of Cyclone Tauktae: IMD says Delhi-NCR, parts of north India to receive rainsAs Cyclone Tauktae weakens further, its after-effects will bring moderate rains to several parts of north India, including Delhi-NCR, over the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday.
Kuldeep Srivastava, Head of the Regional Meteorological Centre of the IMD, said Cyclone Tauktae has brought rains to southern Rajasthan as it approaches north India.
"Tomorrow, it will stretch from Rajasthan to Haryana. Due to this, east and west Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan, the Delhi-NCR region will witness moderate rain. There is a possibility of heavy rains in some parts of Delhi," Mr Srivastava said.
The IMD has issued an orange colour-coded warning for National Capital Region (NCR) for Wednesday with a forecast of rains and squally winds of 50-60 kilometres per hour.
The weakened cyclonic circulation will also move to Uttarakhand and bring rains to the state along with Himachal Pradesh during the next two days, he added.
Naval Ships Beas, Betwa and Teg joined INS Kochi and 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) SAR has also been augmented with P8I and naval helicopters, who continue to undertake aerial search in the area.
In another operation, a Navy Seaking helicopter was launched to rescue crew of GAL Constructor, which ran aground North of Mumbai. The helo rescued 35 crew members of GAL Constructor.
Huge Rescue Ops After Cyclone Tauktae Sinks Barge, Leaves Oil Rig AdriftNavy vessels, tug boats and rescue ships were pressed into service on Monday to evacuate over 500 people stuck on an oil rig and barges in the high sea off the Mumbai coast after Cyclone Tauktae ripped through it.
The cyclone sank a barge that had living quarters for employees working offshore, while two other construction barges lost anchors and drifted away.
The three barges, which were deployed by Afcons for a contract the company had got from ONGC, had 599 workers on board when the cyclone hit, official sources said.
Besides the barges, one drilling rig of ONGC, 'Sagar Bhushan', with 101 people on board (37 ONGC employees and 64 contractual workers), too drifted away from its location.
Cyclone Tauktae: Gujarat Chief Minister monitors situation from emergency ops centre
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani remained stationed at the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) for a considerable time during the last 24 hours as cyclone Tauktae was moving fast towards the state, an official release said on Tuesday.
When the landfall process of the cyclone began on the Gujarat coast around 9 pm on Monday, Rupani reached the SEOC, a central control room in Gandhinagar, to take stock of the situation and guide the administration, it said.
This is one of the most challenging search & rescue ops: Deputy Chief of Naval Staff
This is one of the most challenging search & rescue ops I've seen in the last 4 decades. 4 INS are on site. Main ops pertains to searching & rescuing 261 people from Afcons Barge P305 which sank about 60km away from Mumbai yesterday: Deputy Chief of Naval Staff
GAL CONSTRUCTOR: 50 crew airlifted and safely transferred to Wadrai beach
Isolated heavy rain likely in Ahmedabad and some other dists: Manorama Mohanty, MET, Ahmedabad
Cyclone Tauktae: Worst is over, says NDRF chief
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General SN Pradhan on Tuesday said that the ''worst is over'' and Cyclone Tauktae will "become a depression" by today evening.
Pradhan said, "The cyclone has weakened into a cyclonic storm level and probably in another couple of hours it will become a cyclonic system which is a much lower category. By the time it reaches Gujarat coast in the late evening, it would have become a depression...The worst is over"
"Another good news is that the state emergency operation centre (SEOC) of Gujarat has informed us and confirmed that there have been no deaths at all," he further said adding that there is considerable damage to property and infrastructure.
"Initially there were reports in the morning of hundreds of villages losing electricity but within an hour the electricty has been restored. These are good signs of the disaster response capabilities of India and the states. It will take some more time to complete the restoration," Mr Pradhan said.
Cyclone Tauktae: Six Army team activated for rescue, relief operations in Diu
The Indian Army on Tuesday said that six rescue and relief teams have been activated for rescue and relief operations in Diu in the wake of Cyclone Tauktae.
Six additional Army teams have also been staged forward to Junagarh to deal with aftereffects of cyclone at other cyclone-hit places like Botad, Amreli and Bhavnagar.
The Army team cleared the road between Gir and Diu which was blocked at many places due to fallen trees, debris and damaged electrical wires along with poles.
"Working overnight under adverse climatic conditions, the road between Gir and Diu which was blocked at many places due to fallen trees, debris and damaged electrical wires along with poles was cleared by the Army teams restoring movement of essential supplies, medical support and civil traffic to cyclone-hit Diu," it said.
ONGC is taking all possible measures in coordination with ODAG (Offshore Defence Advisory Group) and MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) to ensure the safety of personnel and vessels: ONGC
Six Army rescue and relief teams activated for rescue and relief operations in Diu
Six Army rescue and relief teams activated for rescue and relief operations in Diu. Six additional Army teams have been staged forward to Junagarh to deal with aftereffects of cyclone at other cyclone-hit places like Botad, Amreli & Bhavnagar: Indian Army