Cyclone Nisarga: Landfall starts in Maharashtra; strong winds and high tides hit Dwarka coast in Gujarat
Cyclone Nisarga started making landfall in Maharashtra near Alibaug on Wednesday afternoon. The northeast sector of the eye of the severe cyclonic storm is entering into land, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people were evacuated, trains rescheduled, flights cancelled, fishermen ordered out of the seas, and rescue workers put on standby as the Cyclone Nisarga was expected to move towards the coast with wind speeds of up to 120 kmph.
AK Pathak, Deputy Commandant, NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), said that "We cannot tell about the exact number of evacuations but around 3,000 people have been evacuated in Daman and few operations are still going on."
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1268116198765391874
Meanwhile, strong winds and high tides hit the Ratnagiri area in Maharashtra and the Dwarka coast in Gujarat. "About 43 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are deployed in the two states of which 21 are in Maharashtra and 16 are in Gujarat. Nearly 1 lakh people have been evacuated from the cyclone spot," SN Pradhan, NDRF Director-General said.
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The IMD also stated that the rear part of the wall cloud region is still over the sea and the landfall process will be completed in one hour. "Its current intensity is near the center is 90-100 kmph to 110kmph. It will move northeastwards and weaken into a cyclonic storm during the next 6 hrs," the Meteorological Department said.
-PTC News
