Manorama Mohanty, scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ahmedabad was quoted as saying, "Cyclone Vayu won't hit Gujarat. It will pass nearby from Veraval, Porbandar, Dwarka. Its effect will be seen on the coastal regions as there will be heavy wind speed and heavy rain as well." "Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Vayu to skit along Saurashtra Coast this afternoon with a wind speed 135-160 kmph. Coastal districts Diu, Gir Somnath, Junagarh, Porbandar, Dwarka will be affected," Mohanty added.
Secretary at the Ministry of Earth Sciences M Rajeevan also confirmed the news saying, "It (Cyclone Vayu) may not make landfall. It will only skirt the coast. It has made a small deviation. But, its effect will be there with strong winds and heavy rain,"
IMD Additional Director General Devendra Pradhan said the cyclone will remain in the sea and move parallel to the Gujarat coast. "It has taken a slight westward movement. It will go parallel to the Gujarat coast," Pradhan said.
"It is very likely to move north-northwestwards for some time and then northwestwards skirting the Saurashtra coast affecting Gir Somnath, Diu, Junagarh, Porbandar and Devbhoomi Dwarka with wind speed between 135 and 145 kmph, gusting to 160 kmph from June 13 afternoon," the Cyclone Warning Division said in its 8:30 am bulletin.
Meanwhile, six teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are on alert in Porbandar and are on standby at Chowpatty beach.
In the wake of the alert, residents of some of the Gujarat districts were asked to move out to safer places or cyclone shelter centres. The Gujarat and Diu administration have evacuated about three lakh people from the identified vulnerable areas and shifted them to around 700 cyclone and relief shelters.
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) where preparation for relief and rescue operations were discussed threadbare.
Telling about the evacuation process, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted, "Gujarat has evacuated about 3 lakh people and Diu has evacuated over 10,000 people from low-lying areas to safer places. Indian Coast Guard, Navy, Army & Air Force units have also been put on standby. Aircraft and helicopters are carrying out aerial surveillance".
With cyclone expected to hit the Gujarat, several parts along the Maharashtra and Goa coast have been witnessing strong winds and rains since yesterday.
CM Vijay Rupani met senior officials of the state, officers from the Army & NDRF and District Magistrates
Weather report
According to the latest weather report, the cyclone has intensified into a "very severe cyclonic storm" and changed its course slightly. Now, it would hit the Gujarat coast anywhere between Veraval in the south and Dwarka in the west on Thursday afternoon.
The cyclone is now located around 200 km south, south-west of Veraval and "is very likely to move nearly northwards and hit the Gujarat coast with wind speed of 155 to 165 kmph gusting to 180 kmph around afternoon of June 13," a release issued by the MeT department said.
It would hit the coast near Veraval as a very severe cyclonic storm "with a wind speed of 145 to 155 kmph gusting to 170 kmph around morning of June 13," a release issued by the meteorological department said.
Trains canceled, transport services, port ops halted
• Considering the alertness for Cyclone Vayu over Gujarat, the Railways has cancelled 70 trains and will short terminate 28 others due to Cyclone Vayu, the Western Railways said.
• The Airports Authority of India announced that flight operations will remain suspended at five airports in Gujarat for 24 hours from midnight Wednesday to minimise the damage to airport infrastructure and to avoid inconvenience to passengers due to the cyclone.
• Since all airports in Kutch and Saurashtra regions have been asked to shut their operations completely, flights to these destinations from Ahmedabad airport stand cancelled for Thursday.
• Gujarat coastline have also been halted temporarily as a precautionary measure against cyclone 'Vayu', the state government said.
Preparations to deal with the cyclone
• The Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force and the Border Security Force have been put on high alert.
• While the state government has said all fishermen and their boats have already returned to the shore after getting the warning, ports have been asked to hoist storm warning signal number 8 and 9 to convey "great danger".
• To help authorities in relief and rescue work, the railways has kept special trains ready for deployment in those areas after the cyclone makes a landfall.
• Based on the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) advice, Great Danger 8 (GD-8) signal has been hoisted at Porbandar and Okha ports, while GD-9 signal has been hoisted at Diu, Veraval, Navlakhi, New-Kandla, Sikka, Mundra, Madvi and Jakhau ports.
• Police would do night patrolling in vulnerable areas to make sure no one is left behind, Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue, Pankaj Kumar said.
• In addition, 11 columns of Army, two companies of BSF, 14 companies of State Reserve Police and 300 commandos of state marine police were also deployed at different locations in Kutch and Saurashtra region.
• A defence release said the Army has allotted 24 columns on standby and is ready to carry out any rescue and relief operations. Each column has a strength of about 70 people from infantry/artillery, signal, engineers and Army medical corps.
• Ships and aircraft of this region were dispersed at various places to enable search and rescue readiness post landfall of cyclone.
• Holiday has been declared in schools, colleges and 'anganwadis' on Wednesday and Thursday in these 10 districts, he said.
• As a precautionary measure, the Indian Railways has announced that all the trains for this region have been either short-terminated or cancelled for two days, starting 6 pm Wednesday.
• Since all the airports in Kutch and Saurashtra region have been asked to shut their operations completely, flights to these destinations from Ahmedabad Airport stand cancelled for Thursday.
PM Modi's appeal
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday advised people in his home state to follow real-time information being given by local agencies to stay safe.
"Praying for safety and well-being 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 tweeted.
(with inputs from PTI)