Cyclone Tauktae: Mumbai Airport operations to remain shut for three hours

Operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport shall remain closed from 11 am to 2 pm today in view of the Cyclone Tauktae, informed Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).

"Due to cyclone alert, Mumbai Airport operations need to be closed from 1100 hours to 1400 hours of May 17," said MIAL today.

A heavy downpour accompanied by gusty winds was today witnessed at the Gateway of India in Mumbai due to the effect of the cyclone.

The Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai will also be closed for commuters till further notice due to heavy wind speed triggered due to the effect of Cyclone Tauktae, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) asking people to take alternate routes.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecaste moderate to intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching reaching 90-100 kmph at isolated places in the districts of Raigad, Palghar, Mumbai, Thane and Ratnagiri.

It predicted a maximum of 36 degrees and a minimum of 27-degree temperature for the day with a generally cloudy sky with moderate rain accompanied by gusty winds in the city with a possibility of heavy falls at isolated places.

Earlier, the IMD had stated that Cyclone Tauktae is likely to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm within the next 24 hours and that it will cross the western coast of Gujarat in the early morning of May 18.

Thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying areas along its western coast as Tauktae is expected to make landfall in Gujarat. IMD DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra informed that the cyclone is very likely to cross the Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district.

(ANI)

Also Read: Cyclone Tauktae intensifies into extremely severe cyclonic storm, to hit Gujarat this afternoon: IMD