Cyclone Vayu: Ground forces in Gujarat, Diu prepare for impact

Cyclone Vayu is expected to make the landfall on Gujarat and Diu coastlines on Thursday afternoon. Unlike some storms, which weaken on impact, Cyclone Vayu is likely to retain its severity for up to 24 hours after landfall in all affecting 10 districts of Gujarat.

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The ground forces in Gujarat and Diu have prepared for the worst storm in decades. With winds in excess of 175 kilometre per hour, tropical Cyclone Vayu could become the strongest cyclone to strike northwestern area in the past decade. Cyclone Vayu comes one month after powerful tropical Cyclone Fani slammed into India’s northeastern coastline. The eye of storm is near Somnath temple.

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Cyclone Vayu is expected to make the landfall on Gujarat and Diu coastlines on Thursday afternoon. Unlike some storms, which weaken on impact, Cyclone Vayu is likely to retain its severity for up to 24 hours after landfall in all affecting 10 districts of Gujarat. Ten columns of Indian Army and 50 companies of NDRF have been deployed.

Gujarat is also a home state of Union Home Minister Amit Shah who has been keeping a tab on situation. He is regularly being briefed by top MHA officials, including Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba.

Amit Shah on Wednesday tweeted, As Cyclone VAYU’ is expected to cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar & Diu, I pray for the safety of the people. MHA is in continuous touch with the State Govts/UT and Central Agencies. NDRF has pre-positioned 52 teams equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipments etc.

In another tweet, Amit Shah said, 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, the Navy, Army & Air Force units have also been put on standby. Aircrafts and helicopters are carrying out aerial surveillance.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high level meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to review the preparedness of state and central ministries/agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone Vayu.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) apprised that Cyclone Vayu is expected to cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Diu around west of Veraval as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speed 155-165 kmph gusting to 180 kmph on June 13, around afternoon.

It is likely to cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Gujarat and storm surge of height of about 1.5-2.0 m above the astronomical tides likely to inundate the low-lying coastal areas of Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagarh, Diu, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts at the time of landfall. IMD has been issuing regular bulletins to all the concerned States.

The meeting was attended by senior Officers from Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Department of Telecom, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Disaster Management Authority, Integrated Defence Staff, India Meteorological Department and National Disaster Response Force.

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In this meeting Chief Secretary of Gujarat and Advisor to Administrator of Diu were also connected through video conferencing and they apprised about preparatory measures put in place for dealing with the cyclonic storm. Gujarat has already evacuated about 3 lakh people from low-lying areas to safer places. Similarly Diu has evacuated over 10000 people to safety.

Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued orders to telecom service providers to allow inter-circle roaming without any extra charge.

Ministry of Home Affairs is in continuous touch with the state governments/UT and the central agencies concerned. NDRF has pre-positioned 52 teams equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipments etc.

Indian Coast Guard, the Navy, Army and Air Force units have also been put on standby and surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out aerial surveillance.

Reviewing the preparedness of the state and central agencies, Union Home Secretary directed the concerned officials to take all precautionary measures with a view to ensure that no human life is lost and minimise damage to infrastructure.

He also reviewed arrangements for making available essential food, drinking water and medicines in relief camps and to ensure maintenance of all essential services such as Power, Telecommunications, health etc and that these are restored immediately in the event of damages caused to them.