Cyclone Tauktae leaves behind trail of destruction, 4 dead in Gujarat

Four people were killed in Gujarat as Cyclone Tauktae made landfall in the state last Monday night and left behind a trail of destruction.

Four people were killed in Gujarat as cyclone Tauktae pounded parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction along the western coast, officials said on Tuesday. The landfall process of the eye of the extremely severe cyclonic storm Tauktae, which hit the Gujarat coast in the Saurashtra region between Diu and Una, ended around midnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. It crossed the Gujarat coast as an "extremely severe cyclonic storm" and gradually weakened.On Tuesday morning, it lay over the Saurashtra region near Amreli as a "very severe cyclonic storm," the IMD said.Even as the cyclonic intensity weakened, it left behind a trail of destruction, with at least four people losing their lives- one each in Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Patan and Valsad, officials said.The wind intensity reduced to 115-125 kmph, gusting to 135 kmph, as the cyclone lay 10 km south of Amreli and around 95 km north-northeast of Diu, the IMD said in its morning bulletin. It was likely to move further north-north eastwards and gradually weaken into a "severe cyclonic storm" during the next three hours, the IMD said.