Cyclone Vayu may cross Kutch in form of depression on Monday: IMD

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that Cyclone Vayu may cross Kutch district of Gujarat in form of depression on Monday. On Sunday, the Kutch district administration had put the coastal area of the district on alert and had put plans in place to evacuate people to safer places.

The IMD said in its bulletin on Monday that severe cyclonic storm Vayu lay centred lay centred about 280 km west-southwest of Naliya (Gujarat), 260 km west-southwest of Dwarka (Gujarat) and 360 km west-southwest of Bhuj (Gujarat). “The system is very likely to weaken into a Deep Depression during the next 06 hours and into a depression during subsequent 06 hours. The system is very likely to move northeastwards and cross north Gujarat coast by midnight of 17th June 2019 as a Depression,” stated the IMD bulletin.

According to IMD, Cyclone Vayu is moving ahead with a speed of 17 km per hour. The IMD has advised the fishermen to not venture in the sea. The IMD also said that conversion of Cyclone Vayu into a deep depression will bring heavy rainfall in Kutch and Saurashtra districts. Some areas of Bhuj, Dwarka, Porbandar and Morbi are also expected to receive heavy rainfall on Monday night. Talking to PTI, a Gujarat government official said that five teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and state authorities are geared up to carry out relief and rescue operations if required

It may be recalled that Cyclone Vayu was earlier predicted to make landfall in Gujarat on Thursday but it moved away from the state and did not cause any damage in the coastal areas of the state. On Friday, the IMD had said that cyclone was likely to "recurve" but may hit coastal areas of Kutch district as a weakened system.