Mumbai:
The cyclone alert over Mumbai and Gujarat has been withdrawn and it is now expected to weaken in a few hours. Wind speeds are also down but there is still warning for heavy to very heavy rainfall in Maharashtra, south Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Cyclone Phyan has crossed the Mumbai coast and is moving in a north easterly direction. Reports from Mumbai said the city had normal high tide waves. (Read:
What is cyclone Phyan?)
But the seventh and last one day international in the series against Australia, to have been played in Mumbai, has been called off.
The cyclone, which started as a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal off the Kerala coast on Monday, moved northwards towards Konkan coast and intensified into a cyclonic storm on Tuesday.
Wednesday began on high alert in the city and other coastal areas of Maharashtra as also in Gujarat, with Surat and nearby areas expected to bear the brunt of the cyclone. The Maharashtra government asked all offices and schools to shut by 2 pm, as the city braced for an encounter with the cyclone.
Emergency services were activated and people in low-lying areas were put on alert. nine rescue teams were stationed in coastal areas and extra local trains were being run to take people home quickly, the chief minister said.
Flights in and out of Mumbai were been delayed due to weather conditions. Local trains on Central and Western Railways were running 10-15 minutes late. There was slow movement of traffic in the city.
In Ratnagiri, there was anxiety over 600 fishermen not having returned from sea.
In Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting on disaster management.
But the cyclone alert was called off late in the afternoon, first in Gujarat as the state went off the cyclone radar and then in Mumbai, once it crossed over the coast of the city.