Cyclone Nisarga approaching Mumbai at 13kmph; wind speed may touch 100-120kmph at landfall

As Maharashtra and Gujarat gear up for Cyclone Nisarga which will make its landfall on Wednesday, the 'severe cyclonic storm' currently is within a radius of 200 kilometres from Mumbai, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.

'It is 200 km south-southwest of Mumbai' 

"Cyclone Nisarga is approaching North Maharashtra coast with a speed of 13 kph during past 06 hours. It is 155 km south-southwest of Alibag and 200 km south-southwest of Mumbai," according to a tweet by the official handle of the IMD in its bulletin for 7am. As per Skymet, at 8:15 am, Nisarga had closed in, to within 150 km of Mumbai, and was to bring rainfall to Mumbai starting 10 am.

"The Wind speed of cyclone 'Nisarga' over the east-central Arabian Sea is 80-90 kph gusting to 100 kph at 0230 hours IST of 03-06-2020," India's top weather forecast agency said. It further said that that wind speed is very likely to further increase to 100-110 kph gusting to 120 kph during next 12 hours.

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. 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.

READ | Cyclone Nisarga: Akshay Kumar advises precautions, says 'we'll get through this'; Watch

'Maximum impact over Mumbai, Thane and Raigad'

On Tuesday, IMD Chief  M Mohapatra speaking to Republic TV said, "Nisarga's impact will be maximum over Mumbai, Thane and Raigad districts and might impact adjoining districts like Palghar, Ratnagiri and a few districts of Gujarat. On its influence also, we are expecting heavy to extremely heavy rainfall. So today we can have heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Konkan and tomorrow some places can have extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 20 cms in 24 hours. In addition, we are expecting tidal waves of about one to two metres high above the astronomical tides."

READ | Cyclone Nisarga: Ahead of landfall, rains lash Mumbai

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General SN Pradhan joining the broadcast along with IMD Chief said that in disaster management terms, it is a "negotiable" cyclone and expected it to cause zero casualties in terms of life. He said that the force is ready because of the prior information provided by the IMD four days back and informed that multiple high-level meetings have also taken place to keep a track of the cyclone.

READ | Cyclone Nisarga: Let’s do our bit as responsible citizens, appeals MNS' Amit Thackeray

READ | Mumbai Rains: As city braces for Cyclone Nisarga, here's a look at projections by Skymet