Cyclone Vayu May Move Towards Gujarat Again Tomorrow
Cyclone Vayu, which was expected to make a landfall in Gujarat this week but changed its trajectory on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, could change direction again and move towards the coast in the next 48 hours. The cyclone may "recurve on June 16 and hit Kutch on June 17-18," M Rajeevan, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, told news agency PTI on Friday hours after Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that Cyclone Vayu "no longer posed any threat" to the state as it had moved away westward. The top Earth Ministry official also said the intensity of the "very severe" cyclonic storm is "likely to reduce" and it may hit the coast as a "cyclonic storm or a deep depression". Cyclone Vayu, the second cyclone to hit India this year, was earlier expected to hit land between Porbandar and Veraval on Thursday. However, the weather department said it had changed its direction and moved westwards towards Oman. Massive arrangements were put in place ahead of the expected landfall. More than three lakh people were evacuated from the coastal Gujarat and the union territory of Diu. Apart from the National Disaster Response Force, the Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force and the Border Security Force were put on high alert and schools and colleges were shut.
