Heavy rains and strong winds triggered by the formation of cyclone Kyarr over the Arabian Sea lashed Goa and much of the western coast on Friday, uprooting trees and power pylons, submerging roads and causing traffic snarls, prompting an advisory to tourists in the former Portuguese colony to stay indoors and fishermen not to venture out to the sea.
Across Goa, power lines snapped, trees were uprooted including along the capital city’s arterial Dayanand Bandodkar Marg,and the police were pressed in to rescue those marooned in low-lying areas of the state. The damage was centred around the state capital Panaji and Mapusa, a town in north Goa. Most affected were fishermen and those living along the coast.
“The sea in most areas has entered almost 50 metres inside the land and damaged properties and houses of the coastal dwellers, thereby washing away their nets, huts, canoes and their belongings. Several fisherman have incurred a loss of almost ~ 3 lakh individually and we request the government and all concerned authorities to inspect the damaged caused and compensate [them] immediately,” Olencio Simoes, a representative of the state’s traditional fishing community said.
According to the Met department, the deep depression intensified into a cyclonic storm, Kyarr, and lay centred at 1130 hrs IST on Friday over east-central Arabian Sea, about 190 km nearly to the west of Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) and 350 km south-southwest of Mumbai. “It is likely to move west-northwestwards towards Oman coast during next five days with gradual intensification,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a tweet on Friday.
More than 200 fishing boats and trawlers from various parts of the west coast, including Maharashtra and Gujarat, have anchored in Goa because of the rough weather. Four crew members were rescued after their trawler capsized at Mobor in South Goa on Thursday evening; a fifth person is still missing.
As many as 4,000 people remained cut off from the rest of Goa as ferry services connecting the riverine islands in the state have been suspended because of the inclement weather.
“Three routes of ferry services connecting Ribandar-Chorao and Old Goa to Divar have been suspended. Besides another route from Camurlim to Agarwada has also been suspended,” a River Navigation Department official said.
An unmanned tanker Nu Shi Nalini, believed to be loaded with 3,000 tonnes of naphtha, a highly flammable liquid, continued to drift dangerously after its anchor line snapped at Goa’s Mormugao Port on Friday. Chief minister Pramod Sawant said, “We have called the captain. He should not leave Goa. We have summoned the owner of the ship too for enquiries.”
The Maharashtra government issued a warning of extremely heavy rainfall in the Pune-Konkan region between October 25-27.
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