Cyclone Tauktae Highlights: PM Modi to visit Gujarat, Diu today

The IMD said on Tuesday night that the cyclonic storm Tauktae has weakened into a deep depression over Saurashtra and will further weaken into a depression in the next 12 hours.

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, 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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat and Diu on Wednesday to personally review the situation there and the damage wrought by cyclone Tauktae, government sources said.

He will leave Delhi at around 9:30 AM and land at Bhavnagar from where he will proceed for an aerial survey of Una, Diu, Jafarabad and Mahuva, they said.

Modi will also hold a review meeting at Ahmedabad.

The cyclone Tauktae battered the Saurashtra region of Gujarat on Monday night leaving three persons dead and damaging property in around 2,500 villages across the southern Gujarat, leading to disruption in power and internet connectivity, officials said.

In Maharashtra, 15 people were reported dead in the four coastal districts of the state with mango crops damaged in 9,000 hectares of farm land. Close to 100 roads were blocked with thousands of tree feeling due to gusty winds of up to 180 km per hour hitting the coastal areas. Maharashtra had relocated close to one lakh persons, officials said.

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said that all drifted vessels except the P-305 are in control. It also said that efforts are on to rescue the crew of P-305, reports ANI.

Gujarat chief minister's office has said that the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the state has been suspended due to the Cyclone Taukte situation and would resume on May 20, reports ANI.

The Taukatae cyclone will be entering Rajasthan as depression by late Tuesday night, as result of which at least seven districts of the state will be witnessing heavy to very heavy rainfall.

The Met department has announced red alert in over half a dozen districts – Jalore, Sirohi, Udaipur, Pali, Dungarpur, Chittorgarh and Rajsamand, where heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected on Wednesday.

The IMD has said that the cyclone Tauktae currently at 50kms to the west-southwest of Ahmedabad would gradually weaken into a deep depression during the next six hours.

Three people have died and 10 injured in Mumbai in the last 24 hours due to cyclone Tauktae, according to officials from the BMC, reports PTI.

The Indian Navy and the Coast Guard have rescued 314 people from two barges that went adrift near Mumbai due to Cyclone Tauktae.

"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," a Navy official said, reports PTI.

Indian Coast Guard has moored two oil tanker ships that went adrift near the Mumbai coast due to cyclone Tauktae, reports PTI.

NDRF chief SN Pradhan said that the worst of cyclone Tauktae is over.

The IMD said that the cyclonic storm Tauktae currently lays centred over Saurashtra, at 140kms southwest of Ahmedabad, 60kms south of Surendranagar and 75kms northeast of Amreli.

The Deputy Chief of Naval Staff said: "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."

Goa state electricity department said that the power supply disrupted by the cyclone Tauktae would be restored completely by May 19.

"We have managed to restore 80 per cent of the snapped electricity supply in Goa. Rest 20 per cent supply would be restored by tomorrow (Wednesday) morning," reports PTI, citing a senior official.

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.

At least seven people were killed in Gujarat as cyclone Tauktae 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 on Tuesday.

Over 16,000 houses were damaged, and more than 40,000 trees and over 1,000 poles uprooted due to the cyclonic storm, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said.

The landfall process of the eye of the extremely severe cyclonic storm Tauktae, which hit the Gujarat coast in Saurashtra region between Diu and Una, ended around midnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The Coast Guard rescued 55 crew onboard an ONGC barge near Vadrai in Satpati, Palghar. 137 crew members were onboard when the barge, located 48 nautical miles off Colaba, lost power and started to drift on Monday night. Navy chopper and other Coast Guard ships have been deployed to rescue the remaining crew.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani told news agency ANI that Cyclone Tauktae has claimed 3 lives in the state. In addition to this 40,000 trees have fallen and 16,500 huts have been affected due to Tauktae.

Indian Navy's search and rescue operations abroad Barge P305 continued throughout the night on Tuesday, in the wake of cyclone Tauktae. The navy had deployed INS Kochi and INS Kolkata, who were later joined by Offshore Support Vessel Energy Star and Great Ship Ahalya have .177 personnel have been rescued so far in extremely challenging circumstances.

INS Kolkata rescued two survivors from the life raft of vessel Vara Prabha on Monday.