Cyclone Tauktae crosses Saurashtra coast in Gujarat, east of Diu

Gandhinagar, May 17, 2021

The extremely severe cyclonic storm Tauktae began crossing the Saurashtra coast in Gujarat, to the east of Diu, around 2100 hours today, with an intensity of 160-170 kmph, gusting to 190 kmph at its centre, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

"Landfall process continues & will be completed in next 3 hours. Cyclone centre is 35km east-southeast of Diu. It will cross Saurastra coast to east of Diu within 3 hours," IMD said on micro-blogging site Twitter.

IMD also posted the latest image from INSAT 3D satellite, showing the forward sector of the eye of the cyclone entering the coast.

"The forward sector of eye is entering into the land. The centre of the cyclone will cross Saurashtra coast to the east of Diu within next three hours. Outer cloud band lies over Saurashtra," it said.

Earlier in the day, the IMD had said that Tauktae, pronounced as Tau'Te), over eastcentral Arabian Sea, was expected to crosss the Gujarat coast, between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavanagar district, east of Diu, between 8 pm and 11 pm tonight with maximum sustained windspeed of 155-165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph.

An update issued by the IMD at 2130 hours said the cyclone lay centred at 2030 hours over northeast Arabian Sea near latitude 20.5°N and longitude 71.2°E, close to the Saurashtra coast about 35 km east-southeast of Diu.

The cylcone had moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 17 kmph during the past six hours, it said.

The update said light to moderate rainfall would occur at most places over Saurashtra, Diu and adjoining Gujarat region, with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places and extremely heavy falls at isolated places.

There will be heavy to very heavy falls at a few places over Gujarat region and heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places over Saurashtra tomorrow. There will also be isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over Kutch during the same period.

Gale winds, with speed reaching 160-170 kmph, gusting to 190 kmph, were likely to prevail along and off Gujarat coast -- Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagarh, Gir Somnath -- and 120-140 kmph, gusting to 165 kmph over Bharuch, Anand, South Ahmedabad and Botad, 90-100 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph, over Devbhoomi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi and Kheda districts till early morning of tomorrow.

Gale winds, with speed reaching 80-90 kmph, gusting to 100 kmph, are likely to prevail along and off Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman, Valsad, Navsari, Surat and Surendranagar districts till the early hours of tomorrow.

The bulletin said tidal waves above astronomical tide were likely to inundate the coastal areas during the next six hours. They could be 3-4 metres over Anand, Amreli, Gir Somnath, Diu, Bhavnagar, 2-3 metres over Bharuch, southern parts of Ahmedabad, 1-2 metres over Surat, Navsari, Valsad and 0.5-1 metres over the remaining coastal districts of Gujarat during the time of landfall.

Meanwhile, heavy to very heavy rainfall continued over North Konkan, including. It would continue for the next 12 hours, the bulletin said.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall will continue over coastal districts of Saurashtra, south Gujarat and Diu, it added.

At 2030 hours of today, Diu reported 111 kmph of wind speed, Bhavnagar 50 kmph and Porbandar 33 kmph.

NNN