Authorities in western India scrambled to evacuate 100,000 residents from the path of a strong and fast-moving cyclone that could strike the financial city of Mumbai.
India’s Meteorological Department said Cyclone Nisarga, with winds over 100 kilometers per hour, made landfall Wednesday near the coastal city of Alibag, located 90 kilometers south of Mumbai.
About 1,000 coronavirus patients were among the 100,000 residents evacuated from low-lying coastal homes in the adjoining states of Goa and Maharashtra, which has more than a third of India’s 200,000 total COVID-19 patients. Authorities in Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra state, patrolled the city’s deserted streets to keep adventuresome residents from straying from their homes.
Mumbai, home to more than 18 million residents, has not been struck by a major storm in decades.
Cyclone Nisarga hit India just two weeks after Cyclone Amphan battered parts of India and Bangladesh, leaving at least 90 people dead.