Six persons were killed and nine injured on Monday as cyclone Tauktae wrought havoc on Maharashtra’s coastline, damaging homes, uprooting trees and leading to water logging in Mumbai.
The State government had evacuated over 12,420 people from coastal districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad to safer places.
One fisherman drowned and three others are missing after two boats capsized off Devgad in Sindhudurg. In Raigad and Thane districts, three and two people lost their lives, respectively. Of the nine injured, four were reported in Mumbai, two in Ratnagiri and Raigad while one in Thane. A total of 2,542 houses were partially destroyed.
The capital city witnessed strong winds and heavy rainfall as cyclone Tauktae passed parallel to Maharashtra coastline, leading to hundreds of trees being uprooted and water logging in low lying areas of the city as the storm coincided with high tide.
According to the data from the State government, Mumbai’s suburbs received more than 120 mm rainfall and while in Colaba, the recorded rainfall was between 100 to 120 mm.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with district administrations and with Dr. Krishnanand Hosalikar, Deputy Director General of the regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai.
“The cyclone at 5 p.m. was around 180 km from the Mumbai coast. The wind speed will slow down to around 70 to 80 kmph and it will hit Gujarat between 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Monday,” Dr. Hosalikar said.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the highest windspeed in the city of 114 kmph was recorded at 2 p.m. at the Colaba observatory. The IMD had upgraded the warning to extremely heavy rainfall in Mumbai during Monday afternoon and evening, predicting winds will continue and escalate up to 120 kmph.
Several areas in the city were water-logged following the heavy rains including Mahalaxmi junction, Hindmata, Nana Chowk, Sakkar Panchayat chowk, Dadar TT, SIES college at Sion, Bindumadhav Junction and BDD chawl at Worli, Pathhe Bapurao Road , and Modi street at Colaba. In the suburbs, Andheri subway, Oshiwara bus depot, Sainath subway, and Yashwant Nagar at Vakola too reported water logging.
A total of 479 complaints of tree or brach falling were reported while 17 cases of short circuit and 26 cases of house collapse were also reported.
The BMC had kept COVID vaccination centres closed on Monday and moved patients from jumbo COVID care centres to the safety of hospitals. Around 243 patients in the BKC covid centre were shifted on Sunday night. The waiting room of the centre was removed beforehand to avoid damage due to winds.
Mumbai police working along with the civic body had closed traffic on Bandra Worli sea link and also had to temporarily close down Andheri subway due to water logging. Two cases of capsizing of boats due to rough sea were reported from Madh Jetty and Mahim causeway. .
