Gandhinagar: The Very severe cyclonic storm MAHA (Pronounced as M’maha) over west-central & adjoining east-central Arabian sea has further weakened in to a Severe Cyclone and was moving towards Gujarat coast at a speed of 15 km per hour.
As per the latest met bulletin it lay centered in the sea at a distance of 450 km west south west of Porbandar, 490 WSW of Veraval, 540 WSW of Diu at 0530 am today.
It is likely to make a landfall in a further weakened cyclonic storm around Diu coast in the noon of tomorrow which is later than expected earlier.
The storm was earlier of extreme severe category but weakened to very severe one while taking a re-curve towards Gujarat yesterday.

It is very likely to cross Gujarat coast around Diu as a Cyclonic Storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 70-80 Kmph gusting to 90 Kmph.

Due to its impact Heavy to very heavy rains are very likely at a few places in the districts of Gujarat region namely Ahmedabad, Anand, Surat, Bharuch; in the districts
of Saurashtra namely Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Porbandar, Rajkot today and Heavy to very heavy rains very likely at isolated places in the districts of Gujarat region namely Ahmedabad, Anand, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara; in the districts of Saurashtra namely Botad, Bhavnagar tomorrow ie November 7.

Meanwhile the state machinery has geared up for rescue and relief operations in the coastal areas.Rescue and relief centers have been made. A total of 30 companies of NDRF is being deployed in the areas.

An official however said that the shifting of the people from coastal areas would be done after getting a nod from Met department which was keeping a close eye on the movement of the storm which might also weaken more than expected.

CM Vijay Rupani who was to go to Rajkot tomorrow to see T 20 match between India and Bangladesh has cancelled this programme in the wake of the approaching cyclone. It would be interesting to see whether the match is played or washed off due to predicted heavy rain.

In Diu, the union territory adjoining Saurashtra region of Gujarat, 5 teams of NDRF are being deployed. Police would be deployed to keep tourists and other away from beaches. Similar exercise on other beaches in South Gujarat and parts of coastal Saurashtra has also been taken up. Most of over 12500 fishing boats in the coasts along Gujarat have already been returned ashore. The five day Kartik Poona fair in Somnath has already been cancelled in the wake of the approaching storm.

DeshGujarat