NDRF teams have been deployed in Maharashtra and Gujarat in the wake of Nisarga Cyclone. (Photo/ANI)

Cyclone Nisarga Updates, Heavy Rain Alert, Mumbai Weather HIGHLIGHTS: IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra informed that Cyclone Nisarga has weakened into a ‘cyclonic storm’ in the evening. It hit the Maharashtra coast with wind speeds of up to 120 kmph today afternoon. The process of landfall, which began at 12.30 PM at Alibaug, had completed by 2.30 PM, IMD DG said while speaking to PTI. By 4 PM, the cyclone had started weakening with wind speeds of 90-100 kilometres per hour.

Mumbai, which is already grappling with coronavirus pandemic reporting over 40,000 cases, was pounded by heavy rains and powerful winds in the afternoon. The Navy and NDRF had deployed several teams to tackle the situation. NDRF  deployed as many as 43 teams along the coastal areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat that fall in the Cyclone Nisarga’s path. Over 40,000 people hd been evacuated to safer locations in Maharashtra.

Cyclone Nisarga is the second severe cyclonic storm to hit the Indian coastline is less than a month after Cyclone Amphan ravaged West Bengal and Odisha. The cyclone, considered to be one of the most devastating to have originated from the Bay of Bengal in last few years, killed at least 100 people apart from destroying crops and damaging property across the two states.