Remains of Cyclone Tauktae: North India may be hit

Cyclone Tauktae — the extremely severe cyclonic storm — made landfall close to Una in Gujarat on May 17, 2021. It hit with a wind speed of 160 kilometre / hour with strong gusts of up to 180 km / h.

Three people have died so far as the cyclone pounded parts of the state, according to officials.

Around 40,000 trees were uprooted and 16,500 huts destroyed in the state, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said. This is the first time since 1976 and the second time since 1900 that a cyclone hit Gujarat in the month of May.

The cyclone weakened into a severe category after landfall. The wind speeds reduced to 80-90 km / h gusting up to 100 km / h. The storm is expected to weaken further into a depression by the end of the day May 18.

Mumbai recorded 230 millimetre of rain due to the cyclone, the highest 24-hour precipitation the city has ever recorded in the month of May. Heavy rainfall is predicted in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Tauktae, the strongest pre-monsoon cyclone in the Arabian Sea since 2010, is also showing some unpredictable characteristics like many other storm systems in the past few years.

The storm intensified into an extremely severe cyclone in the early hours of May 17, which had not been forecast by IMD till the afternoon of May 16.