Cyclone Nisarga delays unlocking of Mumbai by 2 days

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Rain accompanied by strong, gusty winds lashed parts of Mumbai on Tuesday as it braced for the impact of cyclonic storm Nisarga that is expected to make landfall south of it on Wednesday afternoon.
With a red alert warning for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar issued by the India Meteorological Department for Wednesday, police put public places along the coast like beaches, promenades, parks out of bounds of people under Section 144 of CrPC for 24 hours from Wednesday, and authorities began evacuating hundreds of vulnerable dwellers near the sea in the city and thousands in coastal districts around it. In all, 65,000 people have been evacuated in five districts.
CM Uddhav Thackeray postponed Mission Begin Again, the easing of the lockdown from June 3, by two days and asked citizens in the city and the coastal districts to stay indoors on Wednesday and Thursday.
A Covid-19 field hospital at Bandra-Kurla Complex has been evacuated to ensure safety of the patients. PM Narendra Modi has assured the state government of help, he added.
On Tuesday, the PM and the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) took stock of the preparations in both Maharashtra and Gujarat and assured all help to the coastal states in view of the IMD’s warning of extremely heavy rainfall, windspeeds of 100-110kmph and storm surges of about 1-2 meters above the astronomical tide.
In Gujarat, the storm is likely to impact Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bhavnagar and Bharuch districts. The Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu are also in the eye of the cyclonic storm.
An NDRF statement said that rescue and relief teams of the Army and Navy along with ships and aircraft of the Navy and air force have been put on standby. Ships of the Coast Guard are already engaged in rescuing fishermen at sea, the statement said.