Cyclone Nisarga made landfall near Mumbai on Wednesday but spared the city already reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic, even as it uprooted trees in nearby Raigad and Palghar districts.

A 58-year-old man died after a power transformer fell on him while he was rushing home to escape the cyclone fury at Umate village in Raigad district, police said.

Two people died and three were injured in two separate cyclone-related incidents in Pune district, an official said.

The cyclone slammed Maharashtra coast with wind speeds of up to 120 kmph, making landfall at 12.30 PM at Alibaug in Raigad district near Mumbai. The process was completed by 2.30 PM, a senior IMD official said.

Cyclone Nisarga is expected to weaken into a deep depression within the next six hours and currently it lays centered over Pune in Maharashtra, the official said.

Mumbaikars and people in neighbouring areas, including those in coastal Gujarat districts had braced for the cyclone but heaved a sigh of relief as Nisarga’s damage appeared limited to uprooting of trees in affected areas.

Ahead of Nisarga’s landfall, thousands of people in its path were evacuated, trains rescheduled, flights cancelled, fishermen ordered out of the seas and rescue workers were put on standby.

Already down on its knees from the raging COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first major cyclone Mumbai would have faced in 72 years, according to Adam Sobel, a professor of atmospheric science at Columbia University in New York.

Nisarga blew in from the Arabian Sea, making landfall at the coastal town Alibaug.

Steeped in colonial history, Alibaug is a quaint little town located about 110 km from Mumbai, and is dotted with sandy beaches, several forts and temples. A speedboat from Mumbai to Mandwa jetty near Alibaug takes 20 minutes.

Nisarga came a week after Cyclone Amphan wreaked havoc in West Bengal.

The IMD had said kuccha houses, trees, electric poles may fall as they may not be able to withstand the speed of the storm. However, as the cyclone weakened into a depression, it was clear that the extent of damage was far lesser than anticipated.

Pune-based Sucheta Nadkarny, 81, who lived in suburban Vile Parle during the last major cyclone to hit Mumbai in 1948 said, “I remember huge trees in our area were uprooted and plants in our garden destroyed.

“I was 10 years old then and remember this because my mother was heartbroken as the plants she had lovingly nurtured were destroyed,” Nadkarny told PTI.

Ahead of Nisarga’s landfall, the state government authorities had asked people in vulnerable areas to shift to safer places.

The Central Railway (CR) rescheduled special trains and many airlines also cancelled their Mumbai operations.

Flight operations at the Mumbai airport, suspended at 2.30 pm, resumed in the evening, a spokesperson of GVK said.

Maharashtra and Gujarat had activated their disaster response mechanism, deploying NDRF teams and evacuating people from areas in the cyclone’s path.

Authorities in Gujarat had shifted over 63,700 people living close to the coast in eight districts to safer places as a precautionary measure, an official said.

All fishing boats which were out in the sea off Palghar coast in Maharashtra returned before the landfall, an official said.

As many as 577 fishing boats from Palghar had gone out in the sea and till Monday evening, 564 came back. Later, help was sought from the Coast Guard, Navy and the fisheries department and the remaining 13 boats also returned to the shore late Tuesday evening.

The threat posed by Nisarga to Mumbai has lessened, but the next few hours will be crucial, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said.

Authorities in Pune, Nashik and Ahmednagar are on alert considering the trajectory of the cyclone, he said.

“Though the threat posed to Mumbai by the cyclone has reduced, the next few hours will be quite crucial. The cyclone can have influence over an average of 200 km from its eye,” the minister tweeted.

Ahead of the cyclone landfall, carnivorous animals in Mumbai zoo were shifted to holding areas in their enclosures to keep them safe from rain and strong winds, an official said.

Since the city has been experiencing rain, authorities at the Veermata Jijabai Udyan, also popularly known as Byculla Zoo which is spread over an area of 50 acres, took all steps to protect the animals against the rough weather, he said.

Tigers, leopards and hyenas were shifted to holding areas, an official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in New York to demonstrate against the killing of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer, setting police vehicles on fire in some areas and several people being arrested through the day.

Videos and photos posted on social media on Saturday showed huge crowds gathering in parts of Manhattan, some even outside the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, in Times Square, Columbus Circle, Queens and areas in Brooklyn and Bronx to protest the killing of Floyd, who died this week after a white police officer kneeled on his neck while he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground.

In his last moments, Floyd can be heard saying “I can’t breathe”, which the demonstrators used as a clarion call demanding action against brutality by the police.

Social media posts showed a couple of police vehicles being set on fire. A report in NBC News said the protesters shouted the slogans “No justice, no peace” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” as they walked the streets. A large vehicle was also set ablaze near the Union Square.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, referring to the protest in Brooklyn, said there were people who came to peacefully protest but there were others “who came there obviously to try and incite acts of violence”.

“There were elected officials at this protest, some of whom were pepper sprayed. What a horrible, horrible situation that the people who represent us, who are there on behalf of their community peacefully observing, trying to help keep the peace, that they ended up being victims of pepper spraying. That’s unacceptable and we need to understand exactly why that happened. There needs to be accountability,” he said.

The Mayor added that he has seen some protest videos that do not reflect the philosophy of this city, the values of this city, the values of this administration, do not reflect the values of the NYPD (New York Police Department)”.

“We’ve seen some videos where protestors were handled very violently and very roughly, and that is not neighbourhood policing and we will not accept that kind of behaviour from any police officer,” he said.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the protest in Brooklyn had about 3,000 people, who splintered into several smaller protests. He said over 200 people were arrested and multiple officers injured.

Shea said the police recovered firearm, brass knuckles and a person was arrested for attempted murder of four police officers by throwing a Molotov cocktail into an occupied marked police van.

He said countless bricks and other items were thrown at police officers. “Again, this was a volatile…dangerous situation and any and all violence we denounce. We can do better than this and we must.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said there is an injustice in the criminal justice system that is abhorrent.

“And it is not just George Floyd – you look back even in modern history in my life time…We suffered in this city through Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell and Eric Garner. How many times have we seen the same situation? Yes, the names change, but the color doesn’t. And that is the painful reality of this situation,” he said.

The Governor said America’s history of discrimination and racism dates back hundreds of years.

“That is the honest truth and that’s what is behind this anger and frustration and I share the outrage at this fundamental injustice. I do. And that’s why I say I figuratively stand with the protestors, but violence is not the answer. It never is the answer.

“As a matter of fact, it is counterproductive because the violence then obscures the righteousness of the message and the mission. And you lose the point by the violence in response…Yes, outrage. Yes, anger. Yes, frustration. But not violence.” he said.

Cuomo said he has asked New York Attorney General Letitia James to conduct an independent review of police procedures and crowd actions during the protests.

“Peaceful protest is a basic civil right. That right should be protected and guarded. We take the designation to investigate last night’s actions very seriously. We will act independently to seek answers, ensure that the truth is laid bare, and that there is accountability for any wrongdoing. We will be transparent in our findings as we seek accountability for those who did wrong,” James said.