Cyclone Tauktae makes landfall in Gujarat, Army called in for rescue ops

"The ESCS TAUKTAE lies close to Gujarat coast. The landfall process started and will continue during next 02 hours," the IMD stated in a tweet earlier this evening.

The eye of the Cyclone is entering the land. The Centre of the cyclone will cross Saurashtra Coast to the east of Diu within the next 3 hours, the met department tweeted.

It will cross the coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in the next few hours, sustaining wind speeds of 155-165 kilometres per hour.

At least six people have been already killed and several injured in Maharashtra as Cyclone Tauktae brushed past the state, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Eight people have died in cyclone-affected coastal Karnataka.

In Mumbai, Cyclone Tauktae on Monday triggered strong winds with the highest-ever speed of 114 kilometres per hour.

The city was lashed by heavy rains as well. Flight operations at the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport were halted for hours.

The Bandra-Worli sea-link also remained shut for traffic because of strong winds, which caused damage to many structures in the city.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat government has evacuated over a lakh people living in coastal areas to safer places after the India Meteorological Department had issued warnings of tidal waves and flooding.

The authorities have also deployed teams from several departments to provide rescue and relief.

The Army has been called in as well as the Navy is also kept on standby in Gujarat.

"With the impending landfall of the extremely severe cyclonic storm forecast in coastal areas of Gujarat, Indian Army units and formations have prepared themselves with substantial teams along with elements of communication and engineer task forces to provide relief and all kinds of assistance," an Army statement read.