Cyclone Nisarga tore through Murud, Alibaug, Shrivardhan and Uran talukas in Raigad district on Wednesday, with two casualties, multiple incidents of trees being uprooted and the destruction of electricity poles being reported in the district. Navi Mumbai too saw its fair share of damage.
Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd (MSEDCL) employee Dashrath Waghmare (58) was killed after an electric pole fell on him at Banglewadi in Umte taluka of Raigad. Amol Javlekar (16) from Shrivardhan was killed after the compound wall of his house fell on him. The wall was damaged when a tree fell on it.
Nisarga had a landfall in Murud at around noon with a radius of 60 km and speed of 120 km per hour. On reaching Diveagar in Shrivardhan, its speed reduced to 115 km per hour.
Houses in Raigad had their tin and tile roofs blown away by the impact. Power supply in Raigad district was disconnected from 11 a.m. as a precaution. “Electricity was disconnected at sub stations in Uran, Alibaug, Uran, Tala, Mangaon, Mhasla, Shrivardhan and Goregaon. Around 2.68 lakh consumers were affected by the power cut,” said the MSEDCL spokesperson. Three 6 ft-by-6 ft electricity poles fell into the creek at Mhasla tehsil, while three high voltage poles in Amarle village at Mangaon were damaged, he said. Mobile networks at Murud, Shrivardhan, Alibaug and Panvel were unavailable.
Alibaug, 03/06/2020: Garage shed damaged in cyclonic wind near Alibaug sea coast on Wednesday. Photo: Prashant Nakwe
Navi Mumbai bore the brunt of the cyclone too. At Vashi, 22 KV feeder tripped. Electric poles at Sector 17 in Vashi, Navada in Taloja, Karanjade and Boudhwada in Panvel were also damaged in the cyclone. The compound wall of the 22 KV substation at Turbhe MIDC collapsed in the cyclone, the MSEDCL spokesperson said.
Belapur reported 35 tree falls, Nerul saw 80, Koparkhairane had 21, Airoli saw nine while Ghansoli reported two such incidents.
The Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) reported around 150 tree falls. “Many trees have fallen on electricity poles and it will take at least two days to cut them. There were no casualities, although many cars have been damaged,” said Anil Jadhav, head of the Fire Department, PMC.
The Raigad district collector evacuated nearly 13,541 people from Alibaug, Uran, Shrivardhan and Murud talukas before the cyclone hit.
In the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation jurisdiction, 66 people from Durgamata Sambhaji Nagar in Belapur, and 125 from the Ramesh Metal quarry in Nerul were evacuated to safer places. The total loss is yet to be evaluated, officers said.
