At least two people died and several others were injured in Maharashtra’s Pune, after the powerful Cyclone Nisarga made landfall in Alibag on Wednesday afternoon, striking the state with heavy rain and strong winds and forcing thousands into emergency shelters, PTI reported.
A 65-year-old woman, identified as Manjabai Navale, died in the Vahagaon village in Khed tehsil, after the wall of her house collapsed during the storm. “Three other members of Navale’s family also sustained injuries,” an unidentified district official told the news agency. “They have been shifted to a hospital in Chakan.”
In Mokarwadi village of the Haveli tehsil, a 52-year-old man died after the roof of his house was blown away by strong winds. The man, identified as Prakash Mokar, succumbed to his injuries sustained while trying to catch the tin sheets, an unidentified official from District Disaster Management Cell said.
Meanwhile, a 58-year-old man died after an electric pole snapped and fell on him at Umte village in Alibag, Raigad District Collector Nidhi Choudhary told Hindustan Times. Another death was reported from the district after a 10-year-old boy died after a tree fell on him, but there was no official confirmation.
At least four people were injured in Ratnagiri, where several houses were also reportedly damaged in Dapoli and Mandangad tehsil, Uday Samant, guardian minister of the district told the newspaper. “The losses will be compensated after assessment,” he added.
Maharashtra rarely experiences cyclones, and the last storm to affect Mumbai with such intensity was more than 70 years ago. But as the cyclone moved inland, passing over Mumbai in the afternoon, the authorities said the city may have averted the worst, according to NDTV. Besides Maharashtra, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli were put on high alert due to the cyclone that developed over a low pressure area over the Arabian Sea.
Meanwhile, a cargo aircraft coming from Bengaluru veered off the runway at the Mumbai airport due to the downpour. The MD-11 aircraft involved in the runway excursion belongs to American logistics firm FedEx and was coming from Bengaluru, Karnataka, according to NDTV. The Mumbai airport in a statement said that the aircraft was towed from the runway and there has been no disruption in flight operations.
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