Cyclone Tauktae In India Kills 21 People

At least 21 people have been killed and nearly 100 others are missing after a monster cyclone slammed into western India.

Hundreds of thousands of people were without power after Cyclone Tauktae one of a growing number of increasingly severe storms in the Arabian Sea blamed on climate change hammered the Gujarat coast on Monday evening.

The cyclone has packed gusts of up to 185 kilometers (115) per hour uprooting trees and knocking down power lines and mobile phone towers as it barreled inland while weakening slightly.

According to reports one support vessel serving oil rigs that were hit by immense waves off the coast of Mumbai sank and 96 of the 273 people who had been on board were missing.

Although the cyclone was one of the fiercest to hit the area better forecasting than in recent years allowed for strong preparations and more than 200,000 people in danger zones were evacuated from their homes.

Mumbai authorities on Monday closed the airport for several hours and urged people to stay indoors as huge waves battered the city’s seafront.