India: Cyclone Tauktae hits north-west, 200,000 people evacuated
Heavy rains and very strong winds hit Mumbai on Monday, May 17, 2021. © PRANJITA BARMAN via REUTERS - PRANJITA BARMA
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A very violent cyclone, with gusts reaching 185 km / h, is hitting the coasts of the region of Gujarat, in the north-west of India.
Throughout the day, this tropical storm, called Tauktae, swept along the western coast of the subcontinent, leaving extensive destruction and killing at least 16 people.
While disrupting vaccination campaigns, in this country also ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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With our correspondent in New Delhi
,
Sébastien Farcis
The city of Bombay sank into an artificial night on Monday, May 17, as its coasts were whipped by huge waves.
Torrential rains, accompanied by cyclonic winds of around 160 km / h, flooded train lines and forced the international airport to close.
One of the city's huge vaccination centers was evacuated before being flooded;
some of its temporary bamboo structures eventually collapsed.
Across this region, trees have collapsed on cars and homes, and around ten people have died.
But all this is only a foretaste of what awaits the region of Goujarat, further north: it is there that this cyclone, considered extremely severe, has just entered the land with more winds. of 175 km / h.
Authorities have already evacuated 200,000 people and are preparing for the region's worst tropical storm in at least 20 years.
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