Tauktae tears up Gujarat coast, 13 dead, 16,000 houses damaged

As many as 13 people were killed in Gujarat as cyclone Tauktae pummelled parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction along the coast, uprooting electric poles, trees and damaging thousands of houses and roads, officials said on Tuesday.

In what was one of the worst cyclones faced by the state, Tauktae triggered heavy rains in many parts along its way from the Saurashtra coast to North Gujarat with as many as 46 talukas receiving over 100 mm of downpour, while 12 of them recorded 150 mm to 175 mm of rains. Tauktae, characterised as an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Monday, has now weakened into a "cyclonic storm" and will gradually become a "deep depression" as it moves northwards, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.