Cyclone Tauktae: Mumbai Airport operations closure extended up to 8 pm today

Operations closure at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has been extended up 8 pm today in view of the Cyclone Tauktae, informed Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).

"Due to cyclone alert, Mumbai Airport operations closure has been extended up to 2000 hours today," 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) on Monday upgraded the warning to extremely heavy rainfall in Mumbai for the next few hours. Gusty wind will continue and escalate up to 120 kmph, informed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). 

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.

#UPDATE | Mumbai Airport operations closure has been extended up to 1800 hours today: MIAL#CycloneTauktae

— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2021