The very severe cyclonic storm is expected to hit the Gujarat coast on June 13 morning
Gujarat, which is on high alert as Cyclone Vayu nears the state’s coastline, has National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams evacuating 300,000 people.
“NDRF teams had been deployed in 15 districts of Gujarat — Kutch, Morbi, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Dwarka, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Junagarh, Bhavnagar, Gandhi Nagar, Vadodara, Valsad and Surat,” said an NDRF official. “People are being evacuated from several districts, in many others officials are still being however deployed.”
Gujarat is gearing up for heavy to extremely heavy rains as the cyclonic storm nears the coast. The current position of Vayu is 230 kilometres west-southwest of Mumbai and 290 km south of Veraval. It is expected to reach the coast on early June 13, 2019 morning.
The storm has a damaging potential and can bring very heavy rainfall to Gujarat along with high-velocity winds. The heavy rains and winds can harm weak infrastructure and deluge low lying areas, said Skymet Weather. It also said this is the first cyclone to reach Gujarat coast in the last 10 years
“Authorities are shifting people to relief shelters” said the official.
A red alert was issued in many districts of Gujarat. The Western Railway has cancelled many trains that pass through cities of Bhavnagar, Veraval, Okha, Porbandar and Bhuj. Rail services here will remain suspended until June 14.
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