Cyclone Tauktae intensified into a "very severe cyclonic storm" over Eastcentral Arabian Sea and is very likely to intensify further during the next 12 hours, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday. It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and reach Gujarat coast in the evening hours of May 17 and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva (Bhavnagar district) around May 18 early morning.

In an official statement issued today, the IMD said, "The Severe Cyclonic Storm Tauktae over eastcentral Arabian Sea moved nearly northwards with a speed of about 09 kmph during past 06 hours, intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and lay centred at 0230 hours IST of today, May 16, 2021 over eastcentral Arabian Sea near latitude 14.7degN and longitude 72.7degE, about 150 km southwest of Panjim-Goa, 490 km south of Mumbai, 730 km south-southeast of Veraval (Gujarat) and 870 km south-southeast of Karachi (Pakistan)."