Maharashtra Tourism and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Monday visited Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Disaster Management room to take an "update on the current situation of the Cyclone Tauktae".
The Worli MLA said the Mumbai civic body has begun to clear out fallen trees and are working to ensure normalcy at the earliest. Three jumbo Covid Care Centres that have been vacated as precautions, will now be taken up for maintenance and repairs over the next 10 days, Thackeray added.
"Today’s cyclone hit windspeeds of 114 kmph, highest ever for Mumbai in any recent records. This is a climatic pattern that we have started studying, along with its maximum impact points, waterlogging areas and types of trees that are damaged," Aaditya tweeted.
He said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat are in constant touch with guardian ministers and collectors of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane, Mumbai, and Palghar for all possible assistance.
"We are doing everything we can to keep you safe," Aaditya further assured citizens and asked everyone to stay at home. "For any emergencies, call 1916," he added.
Meanwhile, gusty winds and heavy showers lashed Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Monday as the "very severe cyclonic storm" Tauktae headed towards Gujarat, uprooting trees and disrupting local train services in the metropolis, officials said.
The cyclonic storm over the Arabian Sea led to very strong winds blowing at a speed of 114 kmph in Mumbai on Monday afternoon, civic officials said. This was the highest wind speed recorded so far during the day, they said. The wind speed of 114 kmph was recorded around 2 pm at the weather station based at Afghan Church in south Mumbai's Colaba area, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release.
The Bandra-Worli sea-link was closed for traffic in view of the strong winds and people were asked to take alternate routes, a BMC official said.
Also, the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), which had earlier decided to keep all operations shut till 4 pm on Monday in view of the cyclone alert, has now extended the closure period to 6 pm.
"As the result of the cyclone alert, the closure of the operations at the airport has now been further extended till 1800 hours (6pm) on May 17," CSMIA said in its latest operations update.
(With input from agencies)
