Cyclone Nisarga: How was the cyclonic storm set to hit Maharashtra, Gujarat named

The deep depression in the Arabian Sea intensified into a cyclonic storm, which has been officially named as Cyclone Nisarga by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), around 12pm on Tuesday, officials said.

Cyclone Nisarga, headed towards the coastline of Maharashtra and Gujarat, comes a week after Cyclone Amphan wreaked havoc in West Bengal.

Nisarga, which is currently brewing in the Arabian Sea, means nature and was named by Bangladesh. The name was accorded in a list formulated by a group of countries.

Bangladesh had also suggested ‘Fani’, which had made a landfall in Odisha on May 3, 2019, and the extremely severe cyclone had caused extensive damage in the eastern state.

Tropical cyclones are named to help the scientific community and disaster managers to identify cyclones, create awareness and effectively disseminate warnings to wider audiences.

The naming of cyclones in the Indian Ocean began in 2000 and a formula was agreed in 2004.

The World Meteorological Organisation and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific had, at its 27th session held in 2000, agreed to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand were part of the panel. Later in 2018 Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen were added to the list.

Cyclones around the world are named by Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres. There are a total of six RSMCs and five TCWCs, including the India Meteorological Department.

The Indian weather bureau has been mandated with the duty to name cyclones that develop over the North Indian ocean, including Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, by following a standard procedure.

IMD released a list of cyclone names in April 2020 as suggested by the 13 countries. The names like Arnab, Nisarga, Aag, Vyom, Azar, Prabhanjan, Tej, Gati, Lulu among 160 other names were listed.

The next few cyclones will be named Gati (named by India), Nivar (Iran), Burevi (Maldives), Tauktae (Myanmar) and Yaas (Oman).

The new list included the last name from the previous list ‘Amphan’ as it remained unused at the time of release. After ‘Amphan’, ‘Nisarga’ name was picked up for the ensuing cyclone.

IMD has said the names should be gender, politics, religion and culture neutral, not hurt sentiments, not be offensive, be short, easy to pronounce.

Cyclone Nisarga is expected to make landfall very close to Alibag, 94km south of Mumbai, on the afternoon of June 3.

“The landfall location will be very close to Alibag but extensive damage can be expected in Mumbai also,” Sunita Devi, in-charge of cyclones at IMD, said.

Cyclone Nisarga is likely to cross north Maharashtra and adjoining south Gujarat coast between Harihareshwar (Maharashtra) and Daman during the afternoon of June 3.

The storm surge is expected to be one to two metres above the astronomical tide and is very likely to inundate low-lying areas of Mumbai, Thane and Raigad districts at the time of landfall.

It is also expected to be about 0.5 to one metre above the astronomical tide and likely to inundate low-lying areas of Ratnagiri district.

(With agency inputs)