The IMD has issued an ‘orange alert’ which means heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over the entire Konkan and hilly areas of western Maharashtra, mainly Kolhapur and Satara on Sunday and Monday. Currently, the storm is 480kms away from Mumbai and is expected to hit the city by evening !
Winds peaked over Mumbai on Saturday night as the Cyclone and its accompanying storm hit the coast of Kerala and Karnataka. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday said that Cyclone Tauktae is likely to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm and will cross the Gujarat coast in the morning of May 18.
"Severe cyclonic storm Tauktae (It is pronounced as Tau’Te) intensified overnight into a very severe cyclonic storm over the east-central Arabian Sea, said IMD". 100 rescue teams are deployed for six states - Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Goa.
The NDRF has pre-positioned 42 teams, which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipments etc. in six states and has kept 26 teams on standby.
The Indian Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief, search and rescue operations. Air Force and Engineer task force units of Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment.
The Western Railway has said that many trains will be cancelled/short terminated due to the cyclone warning in the coastal Gujarat region on May 17 and May 18.
In a tweet, the IMD said on Sunday morning, "The CS Tauktae lay centred at 2330 IST of 15th May over the Arabian Sea about 170 km southwest of Panjim-Goa, 520 km south of Mumbai. It is very likely to intensify into a VSCS, cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva (Bhavnagar district) around 18th May early morning" !
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