New Delhi, May 16, (dpa/GNA) – At least six people have been killed and large areas inundated, houses destroyed and trees and electricity poles uprooted by a severe cyclonic storm that hovered off India’s western coast on Sunday.
Tropical storm Tauktae has been building up over the Arabian Sea and has moved northwards past Kerala and Karnataka states and is currently located north-west of Goa.
It is expected to keep moving north-westwards and make a landfall on the coast of Gujarat state in the early hours of Tuesday according to a forecast by the Indian Meteorological Department.
The forecast warned of heavy damage along coastal Gujarat and said gusting wind speeds could reach 175 kilometres per hour.
So far torrential rains and high speed winds have wreaked havoc in the coastal belts of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa causing waterlogging, uprooting trees and disrupting power supplies since Friday night.
Two persons have died in Kerala and four in Karnataka, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
Hundreds of thousands of people in these regions and adjacent Maharashtra, Gujarat and the federally administered territories of Daman and Diu have been moved to temporary relief shelters despite the risks associated with a fast-spreading second wave of the coronavirus in India.
Regions vulnerable to the cyclone needed to ensure power back-ups and stocks of essential medicines and oxygen especially at hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in case transport was disrupted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during a meeting with state officials on Saturday.
More than 100 rescue teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed all along the coast.
GNA