Tauktae has turned into an “extremely severe cyclonic storm”, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said today. The rapid intensification happened in the early hours of Monday, said the IMD which had earlier not predicted that Tauktae will intensify into an extremely severe cyclonic storm. It now has a wind speed of 180-190 kilometres per hour with winds gusting to 210 kilometres per hour. The IMD has, however, forecast that its intensity will reduce when it hits the Gujarat coast. “The very severe cyclonic storm ‘Tauktae’ (pronounced as Tau’Te) over east central Arabian Sea moved north-north-westwards with a speed of about 20 kmph during past six hours, intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm,” the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said.

“It is very likely to move north-north-westwards and reach Gujarat coast in the evening hours of 17th and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva (Bhavnagar district) during the night (20002300 hours IST) of May 17 as a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph,” it added. Around 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat, while 54 teams of the NDRF and SDRF remained deployed after IMD’s warning that Tauktae will reach the state coast on Monday evening and cross it Tuesday.