Cyclone Vayu changes course overnight, will not hit Gujarat as expected
Ahmedabad, June 13 (IBNS): Cyclone Vayu has changed course overnight and will not hit the areas in Gujarat as the Met department had predicted earlier.
In a bulletin issues on Thursday morning, the India Meteorological Department said the "very severe cyclonic storm Vayu" was practically stationary about 160km southwest of Diu.
With wind speeds currently around 134 to 145kmph, the storm is likely to move north northwestwards for a while before heading northwestwards "skirting Saurashtra coast affecting Gir, Somnath, Diu, Junagarh, porbandar and Devbhoomi Dwarka with wind speed 135-145kmph gusting to 160kmph from the afternoon of 13th June".
Fight operations will remain suspended at five airports in Gujarat for 24 hours from midnight Wednesday for safety reasons. The railways has cancelled 77 trains and short terminated 33 others due to the cyclone.
The authorities have kept on standby more than 30 companies of NDRF and around a dozen of SDRF in the coastal areas for relief and rescue operations. All the three wings of the armed forces - the Army, the Air Force and the Navy have also been kept in stand-by mode. Leaves of all government officials have been cancelled.
The state government had declared holiday in all the schools in the 11 coastal districts for two days beginning Wednesday. Thousands of fishing boats have returned ashore.
Lakhs of people were shifted from the coastal areas.
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