Cyclone Nisarga LIVE Updates: The India Meteorological Department has said that the cyclone’s eye diameter has decreased during the last one hour, indicating intensification of system. “Wind speed has increased from 85-95 kmph to 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph,” the department added. IMD Director, Mumbai, KS Hosalikar said that the cyclone could make a landfall between 1pm and 4pm as it is now 95 km from Alibaug and 150 km from Mumbai. Officials said that the system is now being continuously tracked by the Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) in Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Goa.
Elaborating on the expected outcome, IMD said that major damages could be caused to thatched houses and huts. Roof tops may blow off. Unattached metal sheets may fly. Damage to power and communication lines may happen, major damage to Kutcha and some damage to Pucca roads, flooding of escape routes, breaking of tree branches, uprooting of large avenue trees, damage to banana and papaya trees, large dead limbs blown from trees, major damage to coastal crops and damage to embankments/ salt pans.
Residents of Palghar, in Mumbai’s suburbs, have been experiencing light rain since morning as Cyclone Nisarga is set to intensify into a ‘severe cyclonic storm’ in the next six hours. The metropolis and its neighbouring areas have been witnessing rainfall since Tuesday evening, prompting NDRF to deploy 20 teams and the local administration asking residents to be prepared for snapping of power and cuts in water supply during the landfall.
“The Cyclonic Storm ‘NISARGA’ over Eastcentral Arabian Sea moved north-northeastwards with a speed of about 11 kmph during past 06 hours, and lay centred at 2330 hours IST of 02nd June, 2020 over Eastcentral Arabian Sea near latitude 16.8°N and longitude 71.5°E, about 290 km west-northwest of Panjim (Goa), 290 km south-southwest of Mumbai (Maharashtra), 250 km south-southwest of Alibagh (Maharashtra) and 500 km south-southwest of Surat (Gujarat),” the India Meteorological Department said in its latest bulletin.
It is very likely to intensify into a Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 06 hours, IMD said, adding, it is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross north Maharashtra and adjoining south Gujarat coast between Harihareshwar and Daman, close to Alibagh (Raigad District, Maharashtra) during the afternoon of today the 03rd June as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph.
Only 19 flights, including 11 departures and eight arrivals, will be operated from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Wednesday, in the wake of Cyclone Nisarga. According to GVK MIAL, which manages the CSMIA, the aforementioned flights will be operated by five airlines, including Air Asia India, Air India, IndiGo, GoAir, and SpiceJet.
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have been put on high alert as some parts of these two states and the Union Territories fall on the path of the cyclone that developed over a low pressure area over the Arabian Sea.
Ahead of the expected landfall of cyclone ‘Nisarga’ in Alibaug in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, Mumbai and its metropolitan areas received rainfall since evening on Tuesday, which intensified later in the night. “Met updates at 10.30 pm, 2 Jun. Mumbai and around rainfall since evening. Now its picked up intensity,” India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Mumbai deputy director general of meteorology K S Hosalikar tweeted.
The IMD has predicted moderate rainfall in most parts of the metropolis and heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated places over the next 24 hours.
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