Cyclone Tauktae swirls over Goa, leaving trail of destruction

Cyclone Tauktae was uprooting trees and snapping power lines as it passed by Goa on Sunday morning accompanied by ferocious winds leading to disruption of rail and road traffic. No loss of life has been reported till now.

Tauktae, classified as a very severe cyclonic storm, was closest to Goa around 5am on Sunday morning with its centre lying around 125 kilometres off the coast of Panaji, the state capital.

"The severe cyclonic storm Tauktae (pronounced as Tau'Te) over east central Arabian Sea intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm by 0500hrs of 16th May, and its centre lay at a distance of around 130km from Panaji at 0500hrs IST," the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The state witnessed widespread destruction with storm surges witnessed along the coast as well as tree falls snapping power lines and blocking road and rail traffic.

"Cyclone is very likely to keep moving north, northwest and by late afternoon, its centre will be north-northwest of Goa state. But since the system is a very severe cyclonic storm, the gale winds will continue for almost the entire day and so will be the rainfall," the met department added.

Tree falls were also reported along the Konkan railway line around the Madgao junction railway station, interrupting the journey of the Netravati Express.

In the port town of Vasco da Gama, a tree came crashing down on the houses endangering the occupants who managed to escape with minor injuries.