MAHUVA: At least 27 people were dead and almost 100 missing on Tuesday after a monster cyclone slammed India, compounding the country’s woes as it recorded a new record number of coronavirus deaths in 24 hours, reports AFP.
The colossal swirling system dubbed Cyclone Tauktae is the latest in what experts say is a growing number of increasingly severe storms in the Arabian Sea as climate change warms its waters.
Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power after the storm hit the Gujarat coast in western India on Monday evening, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
Winds up to 130 kilometres (80 miles) per hour smashed seafront windows and knocked over power lines and thousands of trees, blocking roads leading to affected areas, officials said. “I have never experienced such intensity in my life,” a hotel owner in the town of Bhavnagar said.
“It was pitch dark as power was cut off and winds were making a roaring sound. It was scary.”
One support vessel serving oil rigs that were walloped by eight-metre waves off Mumbai sank and 96 of the 273 people who had been on board were missing, the Indian Navy said Tuesday.
The defence ministry said 177 people were rescued, with warships attempting to save the rest of the crew in “extremely challenging sea conditions”.
