Cyclone fury leaves trail of destruction in Gujarat; 7 dead

At least seven people were killed in Gujarat as cyclone Tauktae battered parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction along the coast uprooting electric poles and trees and damaging several houses and roads officials said on TuesdayOver 16000 houses were damaged and more than 40000 trees and over 1000 poles uprooted due to the cyclonic storm Chief Minister Vijay Rupani saidThe landfall process of the eye of the extremely severe cyclonic storm Tauktae which hit the Gujarat coast in Saurashtra region between Diu and Una ended around midnight the India Meteorological Department IMD saidIt crossed the Gujarat coast as an extremely severe cyclonic storm and gradually weakenedOn Tuesday morning it lay over the Saurashtra region near Amreli as a severe severe cyclonic storm and was likely to weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm by the afternoon the IMD said in its latest bulletinThe wind intensity reduced to 105115 kmph gusting to 125 kmph as the cyclone lay 15 km eastnortheast of Amreli around 125 km southsouthwest of Surendranagar and 205 km southwest of Ahmedabad as per the IMD bulletin at 1030 amEven as the cyclonic intensity weakened it left behind a trail of destruction with at least seven people losing their lives three in Bhavnagar and one each in Rajkot Patan Amreli and Valsad officials saidAlso ReadCyclone Tauktae weakens after making landfall on Gujarat coastAn official of the State Emergency Operation Centre SEOC confirmed three casualties due to the cyclone one each from Rajkot Valsad and BhavnagarAn electric pole fell on a woman while she was sleeping in Patan town late Monday night amid strong wind an official from Patan Adivision police station saidA woman and her daughter were killed when the wall of their house collapsed at Badeli village in Palitana taluka of Bhavnagar a local administration official saidIn another incident a girl died after the roof of their house collapsed on four members of the family at Rajula in Amreli district on Monday night police saidChief Minister Rupani told reporters in Gandhinagar that 16500 houses mostly thatched ones were damaged and more than 40000 trees and 1081 poles mainly of electric supply were uprooted due to the cycloneAlso 159 roads were damaged and 196 blocked due to different reasons he said adding that 45 of them were so far cleared for traffic movementThere was power outage in 2437 villages and the supply has been restored in 484 villages till now he saidRupani said the state governments major concern was uninterrupted treatment of Covid19 patients in around 1400 hospitals across the stateOut of these facilities 16 faced power outage due to the cyclone The electric supply was restored in 12 of them while the remaining four were operating on backup power generators he saidThe production of medical oxygen at a plant in Bhavnagar was disrupted due to the cyclonic storm but the supply continued from the buffer stock he informedAccording to the IMD most places of Gujarat and Saurashtra meteorological regions of the state are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall on Tuesday with heavy to very rainfall and extremely heavy rainfall in isolated places in these areasThe wind speed is likely to decrease during the day it said adding that astronomical high tidal waves would continue to inundate coastal areas it saidAs many as 35 talukas received more than one inch rainfall with Bagasara taluka receiving 9 inches of rainfall Gir Gadhada8 inches Una8 inches Savarkundla7 inches and Amreli5 inches downpourRajula Khamba and Babra talukas also received 5 inches rainfall each the CM saidThe administration remains on standby mode and is working to clear roads restore power and water supplies The animal husbandry department is taking care of the cattle by shifting them to safer places Rupani saidThe state government had shifted over two lakh people to safer locations before the cyclone hit the Gujarat coastThe cyclone hit the coast between Diu and Una around 9 pm on Monday and landfall ended around midnight the IMD saidThe landfall process started with the entry of the forward sector of the eye of the cyclone into the land near the Union Territory of Diu with a wind speed of between 150 and 175 km per hour IMD officials saidLandfall is the storm moving over the land after its intensification in the ocean heat source A cyclone is said to make landfall when the centre of the storm eye moves across the coastThe landfall brings with it highspeed winds severe storm surge and torrential downpourThe storm usually weakens rapidly after the landfall as the ocean heat and moisture that fuel it are no longer available The place above which the eye of a cyclone crosses is designated as the place of landfall an official saidA major cyclone in Gujarat on June 9 1998 had brought widespread death and destruction in its wake particularly in the port town of KandlaWhile official figures had then put the death toll at 1173 adding 1774 went missing media reports eyewitness and volunteer accounts suggested this was grossly an understatementThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever