Saurashtra bears brunt as Cyclone Tauktae pounds into Gujarat

RAJKOT/SURAT/AHMEDABAD: Cyclone Tauktae barrelled dangerously into Covid-battered Gujarat after making landfall near the Union Territory of Diu late Monday, packing ferocious winds and pounding rain that kept alive fears of severe destruction in the coastal districts of Saurashtra.
A massive storm surge in the sea, with waves rising as high as three metres, inundated hundreds of coastal villages.Electricity supply snapped as strong winds flattened poles in most parts of Amreli, Gir-Somnath and Diu.
IMD said Tauktae, with an elliptical eye around 42km in diameter, was spewing winds gusting up to 150-160kmph. For the first time in at least a decade, the "great danger" signal was hoisted at all ports and private jetties. Over 100 anchored ships were sent back to the high seas for fear of collisions. The risk of accidents, however, remained as thousands of fishing boats converged on coastal towns.
Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, Bhavnagar and Amreli had started reeling under heavy rain and howling winds blowing at speeds of up to 100kmph by Monday noon. The twin assault of rain and wind was accompanied by dust storms. The coastal highway near Kodinar town was littered with uprooted coconut trees. In Una town alone, at least 200 trees and a mobile tower collapsed. Most areas were in pitch darkness due to power outage.
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. At least 12 deaths were reported so far across the coastal districts of the four states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala.
Chief minister Vijay Rupani said close to two lakh people in 17 "vulnerable" districts had been shifted to safer locations. At least 17 Covid-19 patients on ventilator support at Porbandar Civil Hospital's ICU were shifted to facilities in Junagadh and Jamnagar.
Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Kandla and other airports were shut as the cyclone approached. Vadodara airport will remain closed till Tuesday. As many as 18 flights were cancelled at Ahmedabad airport during the day. As the cyclone moved past the Maharashtra coast in the morning, Mumbai airport initially announced the suspension of operations from 11am to 2pm and later decided to keep all operations shut till 8pm.
Ahead of the landfall, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to chief ministers of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, and administrators of Daman & Diu to check their preparedness to ensure zero loss of life.
The Gujarat CM said 50 NDRF and 10 SDRF teams were stationed across the cyclone belt to minimise human losses. The Army, Navy and Air Force are also on stand-by. More than one lakh cops, including 13,000 home guards, 30,000 Gram Rakshak Dal (GRD) jawans have been deployed in Saurashtra region, state DGP Ashish Bhatia said.
"Gir-Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar will witness the highest wind speed. Three to four-metre-high waves are expected in coastal areas. People have been shifted to over 2,000 shelters with Covid-19 guidelines," Pankaj Kumar, additional chief secretary of revenue, told reporters.
He said 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."
Corporate houses, too, rolled out various precautionary measures to minimise the impact of the cyclone. Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani camped at Moti Khavdi in Jamnagar district, where the company runs the world’s largest refinery with a huge petrochemicals project.
Tauktae, which has intensified into an "extremely severe storm", is the strongest cyclone to hit Gujarat since 1998, when the Kandla cyclone left nearly 4,000 dead and inflicted huge damage to India’s busiest government-run port.
The administration is worried not just about human lives, but also the safety of Asiatic lions in the Saurashtra region. Of the 674 lions in the Saurashtra belt, 350 are in the coastal area.
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 & Nagar Haveli. According to the State Emergency Operation Centre, in the 24 hours ending 6am on Monday, 84 talukas of 21 districts of Gujarat received light rainfall, mainly due to the cyclonic disturbances. Six talukas received over one inch of rainfall, it said.