Guj on high alert as cyclone ‘Vayu’ may hit coast June 13

Coastal people to be shifted to safer places

Ahmedabad, June 11: The Gujarat administration is on high alert to deal with cyclone “Vayu”, which is likely to hit the state coast near Veraval on Thursday, officials said.

Union home minister Amit Shah reviewed the preparations for cyclone Vayu and directed officials to ensure all possible steps for the safety of people, officials said.

Chief minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday said people living in the coastal belt would be shifted to safer places.

As per the latest weather report, the cyclonic storm Vayu is located around 630 km south of Veraval coast and is “very likely to intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm” in

◗ Home minister Amit Shah reviewed the preparations for cyclone Vayu and directed officials to ensure all possible steps for the safety of people

next 12 hours and hit the state coast on June 13.

According to officials, the cyclone is likely to affect Kutch, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Devbhoomi-Dwarka, Porbandar, Rajkot, Amreli, Bhavnagar and GirSomnath districts.

Mr Rupani told reporters in Gandhinagar that the entire coastline, starting from Kutch to south Gujarat, has been put on “high alert”.

The officials concerned are in touch with the Odisha government to learn and implement the disaster management techniques adopted by them when cyclone Fani hit the eastern coastal state recently, he said.

“We have cancelled leaves of all the employees concerned and asked them to join the duty. After the Cabinet meet tomorrow, all the ministers will go to various districts to oversee relief and rescue operations,” he said.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has pre-positioned 39 NDRF teams, comprising about 45 rescuers each, in Gujarat and Diu.