India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said that tropical Cyclone Nisarga has headed for the Maharashtra coast, and is going to make landfall on June 3 close to Mumbai.
“Depression over the east-central Arabian Sea lay near latitude 14.4deg N and longitude 71.2deg E about 300 km west-southwest of Panjim, 550 km south-southwest of Mumbai and 770 km south-southwest of Surat,” the IMD added.
“The landfall is expected towards the south of Mumbai. Since the Arabian Sea system is dynamic there are a few predictability issues. There might be further changes in the coming 48 hours depending on how the [weather] system moves,” she said. “An orange alert (to be prepared) will be issued 48 hours before the landfall while a red alert (to take action) will be issued 12 to 24 hours for the affected areas,” IMD added.
The organisation has advised, “fishermen not to venture into the southeast Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep area and along and off Kerala coast during next 48 hours; east-central Arabian Sea and along with off Karnataka–Goa coasts till June 3 east-central the Arabian Sea along and off Maharashtra coast and the northeast Arabian Sea along and off Gujarat coast during June 3-4.”
Yesterday, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said it has positioned nine teams in vulnerable districts – three in Mumbai, two in Palghar, one in Thane, one in Raigad, one in Ratnagiri and one in Sindhudurg.