Latest News: Cyclone Tauktae Weakens after Crossing Gujarat Coast; Rain to Continue in Many Parts

Cyclone Tauktae, has made landfall in Gujarat at around 8.30 pm on Monday, packing winds with speeds of 155-165 kilometres per hour, gusting to 190 km/hour. After the landfall around midnight, the weather office downgraded the storm from ‘extremely severe’ to ‘very severe’.  

Later, the IMD, in its tweet announced that Cyclone Tauktae has weakened into a “very severe cyclonic storm” from the “extremely severe cyclonic storm”. The IMD also tweeted, “The entire eye of the cyclone has now crossed the coast and lies over land. The rear sector of the eye is now entering the land”. 

Flight operations at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, halted for hours due to the cyclone, have been resumed. The cyclone triggered strong winds with the highest-ever speed of 114 kilometres per hour in Mumbai. On Monday, the NDRF said it has evacuated thousands of stranded people in the last three days in Gujarat, Kerala and Daman and Diu in view of Cyclone Tauktae. 

The major airports and ports are closed in Gujarat because the most powerful cyclone in more than two decades roared up the west coast. This cyclone has left a trail of destruction because it brushed past the coastal states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, the authorities said. 

Major Highlights on Cyclone Tauktae:  

Below are the main highlights of Cyclone Tauktae: 

Cyclone: Navy Ships Rescued 132 from Barge Adrift Near Mumbai  

• The Indian Navy has rescued 132 people on board a barge that went adrift within the Arabia Sea near Mumbai hours before a very severe cyclonic storm with winds gusting up to 185 km per hour made landfall on the Gujarat coast, an official said on Tuesday.  

• The ships deployed to provide assistance to the 2 barges were INS Kolkata, INS Kochi and INS Talwar. 

• The Navy had already deployed three of its frontline warships after getting information to rescue 410 people on board two barges off the Mumbai coast on Monday.

Cyclone Tauktae Continues To Show Weakening Trend, Informs Weather Department 

• As Cyclone Tauktae continues to affect many states on the Western Coast including Gujarat, damaging buildings, electricity lines, and uprooting trees, the India Meteorological Department on Tuesday informed that the cyclone is continuing to show a weakening trend. 

• Extremely severe Cyclone Tauktae unleashed devastating winds with accelerates to 190 kilometres per hour because the storm made landfall in Gujarat. 

• In a tweet by the IMD, it read, "The Cyclone continues to show weakening trend. Eye is disorganising, wall cloud is weakening." 

• "Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ''Tauktae'' moved north wards with a speed of 15 KMPH during past 06 hours", tweeted by the department. 

Home Minister Amit Shah also reviewed the extent of preparedness for Cyclone Tauktae in Gujarat, Maharashtra and two Union territories on Sunday and “specifically” stressed that all health facilities, including those for COVID-19 treatment, falling in the affected areas should be secured along with the patients.