The cyclonic storm Tauktae shaped over the Arabian Sea, which intensified into a really extreme cyclonic storm by Monday morning, triggered gusty winds and heavy rains in Mumbai. The wind velocity of 114 kmph was recorded round 2 pm on the climate station primarily based at Afghan Church in south Mumbai’s Colaba space, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) mentioned in a launch.
Several incidents of uprooted bushes and collapsed buildings have been reported from the town. Two barges with 410 individuals onboard went adrift off the Mumbai coast. The Indian Navy Search and Rescue crew – INS Kolkata – has sailed out for help.
Tauktae is the fourth cyclone in consecutive years to have developed within the Arabian Sea, that too within the pre-monsoon interval (April to June). All these cyclones since 2018 have been categorised both ‘Severe Cyclone’ or above. Once Tauktae makes its landfall, three of those can have hit both the Gujarat or Maharashtra coast. After Cyclone Mekanu in 2018, which struck Oman, Cyclone Vayu in 2019 struck Gujarat, adopted by Cyclone Nisarga in 2020 that struck Maharashtra.
Tauktae has been intensifying very quickly. From a despair shaped within the southeast Arabian Sea on May 14 morning, it strengthened right into a VSCS by the early hours of May 16. Compared to Tauktae’s 2 days, Cyclone Vayu had taken 36 hours to grow to be a VSCS, whereas Cyclone Mekanu (4 days) and Cyclone Nisarga (5 days) had developed slower.
Also, the primary cyclones to kind in 2020 and 2021 have been within the Arabian Sea in the course of the pre-monsoon interval, each within the VSCS class.
