Porbandar: The severe cyclonic storm ‘Vayu’ will not hit Gujarat as predicted earlier. The storm has changed its trajectory overnight and has moved further into the sea, the weather department said, Thursday morning.
However, the western coast continues to be on high alert as strong winds and rough seas are expected for the next 24 to 48 hours. Over three lakh people were evacuated from coastal Gujarat and the Union Terriroty of Diu, Wednesday. As many as 52 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed for rescue and relief operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted to say that the centre was constantly monitoring the situation
“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 and Air Force units have also been put on standby. Aircraft and helicopters are carrying out aerial surveillance,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted.
The Airports Authority of India has also 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.
Earlier the Met department had said that after making landfall, the cyclone ‘is likely to move along and parallel to Saurashtra and Kutch coast’.
Agencies