Cyclone Tauktae pummels Gujarat; massive destruction in coastal Saurashtra

RAJKOT/SURAT/AHMEDABAD: Cyclone Tauktae barrelled dangerously into Covid-battered Gujarat after making a landfall near the Union territory of Diu late on Monday night, packing ferocious winds and pounding heavy rain, which were projected to wreak severe destruction in coastal districts of Saurashtra.
The landfall began around 8:45pm and continued till late night with Tauktae surging further into the land, according to IMD’s specialized cyclone centre.
Massive storm surge in the sea with waves as high as three metres inundated hundreds of coastal villages while electricity was snapped as strong winds flattened electricity poles in most parts of Amreli, Gir-Somnath and Diu.
Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, Bhavnagar and Amreli were reeling under heavy rain and winds speeding up to 100 km per hour that started howling by Monday noon. The winds were accompanied by dust storms.
The coastal highway near Kodinar town was littered with large number of coconut trees that collapsed due to gale, eyewitnesses said. In Una town alone, at least 200 trees and a mobile tower collapsed but there were no reports of deaths or injuries. There were reports of glasses in Diu hotels getting shattered late in the night.
The situation late on Monday night suggested heavy damage in coastal towns of Una and Kodinar as well as Diu, which were continuously battered by extremely strong winds, huge tidal waves and heavy rain. Most areas were in pitch darkness due to power outage. The threat of wreckage also loomed as nearly 4,000 fishing boats were anchored close to each other in the coastal towns.
A 38-year-old woman identified as Sharmishta Rawal died in Patan after an electricity pole that got uprooted due to strong winds fell on her. Rawal was sitting outside her house in Hari Society when the incident occurred.
Ahmedabad city too witnessed rainfall that lasted for nearly 30 minutes. More rain is forecast for Tuesday.
The impact of Tauktae was felt in north Gujarat, as far as 600 km away from landfall point near Diu, as several districts reeled under wet spell and squally weather.
IMD said Tauktae, with an elliptical eye of around 42km diameter, is spewing winds gusting up to 150-160 kmph.
Chief minister Vijay Rupani said close to two lakh people in 17 vulnerable districts were shifted to safer locations while 50 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 10 SDRF teams were stationed to minimize human losses. The Army, Navy and Air Force were also on the stand-by.
“The maximum impact of the cyclone will be witnessed in Gir-Somnath, Amreli, Junagadh and Bhavnagar where wind speeds were touching 150 kmph. In Dwarka, Porbandar and Rajkot too, winds were gusting at 100 kmph,” he said.
“People have been shifted to over 2,000 shelters with Covid-19 guidelines,” Pankaj Kumar, additional chief secretary, revenue, told reporters.
Kumar said late in the night that there were neither casualties so far nor any major damage to property.
He said that infrastructure will be hit hard due to the cyclone. Kumar said there were 629 incidents of electricity failure of which 440 were resolved. “Until now, 234 electricity poles have fallen so far,” he added.
More than one lakh policemen including 13,000 home guards, 30,000 Gram Rakshak Dal (GRD) jawans have been deployed in Saurashtra region, state DGP Ashish Bhatia said.
All major airports across the state including those in Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara and Kandla remained shut in wake of the cyclone. Vadodara airport will remain closed till Tuesday. As many as 18 flights were cancelled at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Monday.
For the first time in at least a decade, the ‘great danger’ signal was hoisted at all ports and private jetties, which have already shut down operations. Over 100 ships were sent back to high seas for the fear of accidents.
Corporate and industrial houses in Gujarat are also taking various precautionary measures too minimize the impact of cyclone. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman MukeshAmbani was camping in Moti Khavdi in Jamnagar district where the company runs the world’s largest refinery with a huge petrochemicals project.
Tauktae, which rapidly turned into an extremely severe storm, was the strongest to hit Gujarat, after 1998 when the Kandla cyclone left nearly 4,000 dead and inflicted huge damage to India’s busiest government-run port.
IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rains at a few places with isolated extremely heavy falls in 22 districts and UTs of Diu, Daman and Dadra & NagarHaveli.