Cyclone Tauktae - which intensified into an `extremely severe cyclonic storm` early this morning -  is "very likely" to reach the Gujarat coast this evening with gusts of up to 200 km per hour, the weather department has said.

Gusty winds and rains lashed Mumbai and its neighboring areas overnight and on Monday morning as the "very severe cyclonic storm" Tauktae was heading towards Gujarat, officials said. There was no water-logging anywhere in the metropolis, but trees were uprooted at several places, they said, adding that no casualty was reported so far.

Scary visuals from Maine Drive today.pic.twitter.com/gxk9VFwU7V

— Shivangi Thakur (@thakur_shivangi) May 17, 2021

In view of the high-speed winds, the Bandra-Worli sea-link was closed for traffic, and people were asked to take alternate routes, a senior official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

Local train services of the Central Railway were disrupted between suburban Ghatkopar and Vikhroli as a tree branch fell on a train heading towards neighboring Thane, a railway spokesperson said.

Windspeed warnings - 120-140 km per hour with gusts up to 165 km per hour - have also been issued for Bharuch and south Ahmedabad. Similar warnings - 90-100 km per hour with gusts up to 120 km per hour - have also been sounded in Devbhoomi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Morbi, and Kheda for early Tuesday.

An estimated 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat while 54 teams of the NDRF and SDRF remained deployed on Sunday in view of the IMD`s warning that the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae will reach the state coast on Monday evening and cross it on early Tuesday morning.

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