Waves hit the Mumbai coast on Monday as cyclone 'Tauktae' slammed into India.Sujit Jaiswal / AFP
The passage of cyclone
Tauktae
along the west coast of India has left at least 17 deaths and various damage to various infrastructures in the region, according to the country's authorities. The cyclone, previously classified as extremely severe, hit the state of Gujarat late Monday with gusts of up to 185 kilometers per hour. In that State “so far three deaths have been reported. One in Vapi, one in the Rajkot district, where a child died when a shack collapsed on him, and another in Gariyadhar, where an 80-year-old woman died, ”reported the region's head of government, Vijay Rupani, in a news conference. Rains remain heavy in some regions, although forecasters said Tuesday that the intensity of the storms had weakened after the cyclone hit the subcontinent, and will continue to decline.
The
Tauktae
caused damage to the power supply in 2,400 villages in the state as 1,000 pylons were damaged, according to Rupani, in a statement to the media. Almost 160 roads have been destroyed, 40,000 trees uprooted and several houses damaged. Before the cyclone, approximately 200,000 people had been evicted from their homes. A survey has also been started in Gujarat to determine agricultural losses due to the cyclone. These deaths and damages are in addition to those registered on Monday in other coastal states of India. Before reaching Gujarat, the cyclone left a trail of destruction in Kerala, Karnataka (at least eight dead), Goa and Maharashtra (at least six dead and nine injured).
A man protects himself with plastic on a street in Amreli, in the state of Gujarat, this Tuesday.PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP
The cyclone passed near Bombay without reaching the city, which suffered heavy rains and floods.
However, the barges that were drifting off the city's coast were unable to return to port in time.
One of them sank as a result of the storm and more than 90 people have been reported missing.
The Indian Navy is conducting operations in the area and has confirmed that 177 people (out of a total of 273 aboard the barge) have been rescued.
The sinking took place near an oil facility off the city's coast.
A second boat also adrift with about 140 people on board has run aground in the vicinity of Bombay, with no information on victims, as reported by the DPA news agency.
More information
Let's help India, now
Secretary of the Spanish Embassy in India dies of coronavirus
The
Tauktae
It is the strongest cyclone to hit the Gujarat coast since 1998 and comes amid the devastating second wave of COVID-19 in India. Although the number of infections begins to fall, the Asian country crossed the barrier of 25 million infections on Tuesday since the beginning of the pandemic, with a new record of deaths of more than 4,300 in the last 24 hours. "Our priority is to clear the roads, so there is no impact on the oxygen movement" due to the cyclone, said Gaurang Makwana, the top official in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district. The head of Government Rupani assured that the manufacture of oxygen had not been affected and that hospitals with patients with covid-19 have not been harmed. However, according to the BBC,Bombay transferred 580 coronavirus-positive patients from specialized centers to other hospitals as a precaution.
Undamaged ports and refineries
In Gujarat, no damage has been reported to refineries and seaports that were expected to be in the storm's path.
At the Jamnagar refinery, the world's largest refining complex, which is owned by Reliance Industries, no damage was reported, a company spokesman told Reuters.
Operations at the port of Mundra, India's largest private port, have already resumed, according to a port official.
However, the port of Kandla, the country's largest government port, has not resumed operations because wind speeds of more than 70 kilometers per hour made it unsafe to do so, port officials said.