Cyclone Vayu skirts Saurashtra coast, moves towards north-west Gujarat

The “very severe” cyclonic storm, Vayu, moved north-westwards on Thursday after skirting the Saurashtra coast in Gujarat.

According to Gujarat Chief Secretary J N Singh, the state government was prepared as it had consulted Odisha, which saw Cyclone Fani last month. Exhibiting heightened preparedness ahead of the probable landfall of Cyclone Vayu, the Gujarat government evacuated more than 300,000 people from several districts. Even as Vayu did not make a landfall in Gujarat on Thursday, it passed over the Saurashtra region, affecting Amreli, Gir Somnath, Diu, Junagadh, Porbandar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, and Dwarka districts, bringing widespread rainfall with heavy to very heavy rains.

The Western Railways cancelled 70 trains from the Saurashtra and Kutch region, while 28 trains had to be short terminated. However, special relief trains were pressed into service for supply of essential commodities to affected areas and evacuation of people.