As cyclonic storm ‘Vayu’ turned ‘severe’ and is expected to make a landfall in Gujarat on Thursday morning, over 1.60 lakh people were shifted from low-lying areas of Saurashtra and Kutch regions to safer places or cyclone shelter centres.
While an alert has been sounded in 10 districts of Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Rajkot, Junagarh, Diu, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar of Gujarat, the State Government suspended operations at all ports and airports in the coastline areas as a precautionary measure for Thursday. For its part, the Western Railway cancelled 15 trains and short terminated 16 others.
The Army, Navy and Air Force the Army, the Air Force, and the NDRF teams are deployed and put on standby for rescue and relief operations along the coastal districts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also urged people to follow real-time information being provided by the government and local agencies to stay safe. “Praying for the safety and wellbeing of all those affected by Cyclone Vayu. The government and local agencies are providing real-time information, which I urge those in affected areas to closely follow,” Modi said in a tweet. Also, earlier on day, Congress President Rahul Gandhi appealed to party workers to be prepared to help out people who are being affected by “Vayu”.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said Vayu has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and it would cause gusty winds to blow at a speed of 145 kmph to 170 kmph by Thursday morning. “Vayu, has changed its course slightly and would now hit Gujarat coast anywhere between Veraval in the south and Dwarka in the west in the afternoon Thursday”, officials said.
“The cyclone is now situated around 280 km south of and is very likely to move nearly northwards and cross Gujarat coast between Dwarka and Veraval as a “very severe cyclonic storm” with wind speeds of 155-165 kmph gusting to 180 kmph around afternoon of Thursday, the IMD said. After making the landfall, the cyclone is likely to move along and parallel to Saurashtra and Kutch coast, it said.
The Gujarat and Diu administration are shifting about 3 lakh people from the identified vulnerable areas and they are being shifted to around 700 cyclone and relief shelters.
According to officials, flight operations from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to Porbandar, Diu, Kandla, Mundra and Bhavnagar in Saurashtra have been cancelled for Thursday, while all educational institutions have been shut and tourists on the Gujarat coast asked to steer out at the earliest.
Two special evacuation trains have been pressed into service with one starting from Okha in Saurashtra for Rajkot at 5.45 p.m. on Wednesday, and another at 8.05 p.m. for Ahmedabad with 21 coaches. The Western Railway has also announced that all trains passing through the coastal areas have either been short- terminated or cancelled for two days, from 6 pm on Wednesday.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba Wednesday chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) where preparation for relief and rescue operations were discussed threadbare.
The NCMC meeting took stock of the precautionary measures taken by the Gujarat government and Diu UT administration with a view to ensure that no human life is lost, damage to vital infrastructure is minimised and to ensure early recovery of all essential services post-cyclone landfall. Odisha, which faced cyclone Fani and earned UN’s praise for its success in minimizing loss of lives, has offered all help to Gujarat.
