Cyclone Vayu turns very severe; to make landfall between Diu and Veraval tomorrow

AHMEDABAD/ RAJKOT: Cyclone Vayu has turned into a very severe cyclonic storm and will make a landfall between Diu and Veraval along the Gujarat Coast early Thursday morning, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) – Gujarat said.
"Cyclone Vayu is moving northwards and is likely to make a landfall between Diu and Veraval as a very severe cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 145-155 kilometre per hour, which will be gusting up to 170 kilometre per hour,” said Jayanta Sarkar, director, IMD – Gujarat.
“Such high-speed wind has a lot of damaging power. It is capable of blowing away Kachcha houses, temporary sheds, hoardings and even uproot trees,” Sarkar further added.
The local, state and central administration in addition to disaster management agencies are on alert since the past two days, in the wake of the cyclone warning and are constantly monitoring the cyclone movement.
The state government has already begun evacuating people from the low-lying areas in the coastal districts of Saurashtra region of Gujarat. A total of 2.9 lakh people are likely to be evacuated.
The district administration of Porbandar, Gir Somnath, Dwarka and Kutch districts, along with the local administration of Diu, had already issued advisory on Tuesday, urging people not to venture out near the beach. Moreover, from 11am on Wednesday, people would be prohibited from venturing near the seashore.
As a precautionary measure all the beaches in the coastal districts of South Gujarat region, including those in Surat, Navsari and Valsad, among others have also been closed for public use by the respective district administration.
An alert has been sounded across all the ports along the Gujarat coast. Fishermen have also been warned to not venture into the sea and those who were already in the sea have been asked to return to the shore by informing them about the cyclonic condition through wireless messaging service.
Early on Wednesday morning, there was a sudden change reported in the weather in Ahmedabad, wherein the sky was cloudy. “The outer fringe of the cyclonic storm is causing clouding in the city. Ahmedabad is also likely to receive light rainfall on Thursday,” said Sarkar.