The cyclone is expected to hit the Gujarat coast tomorrow.
The Met Department today withdrew the cyclone alert for Gujarat's coastal districts, limiting it to only the ports and fishermen. Thousands of people have already been moved out of the way of Cyclone Nilofar, which is now scheduled to hit the state tomorrow. Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
Although the Met department has withdrawn the cyclone warning for coastal areas in the state, the Gujarat government continues to be on high-alert mode.
As per the latest prediction of the India Meteorological Department, cyclonic storm Nilofar is expected to hit Gujarat tomorrow as 'marginal cyclonic storm', against the earlier prediction of it being 'severe'.
The Met department's latest bulletin suggests that the cyclone will now hit Kutch coast on the night of October 31 or early morning November 1. It has moved slightly northwards, and is now 860 Km west-southwest of Naliya in Kutch.
"However as the system would come closer to Gujarat coast, it would weaken and cross the coast as marginal cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 60-70 Kmph gusting to 80Kmph," said the bulletin issued at 3 pm by Met department.
"Apart from Kutch, including Naliya, the storm will impact other coastal towns including Veraval, Somnath, Porbandar, Okha and Dwarka near Jamnagar. We have asked all the districts collectors to take their own call to evacuate those living near the coastal areas," the state relief commissioner DN Pandey told Press Trust of India.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 14 rescue and relief teams with boats and other flood rescue equipment as proactive measure to mitigate the situation.
Private telecom operators have also put in place facilities to ensure continuing mobile communication services in the districts that may get affected.
"We are preparing for the worst to happen, let us also pray that cyclone Nilofar gets subdued and doesn't bring serious damage," said Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben who has been reviewing preparations.
Nilofar is the second cyclone to hit India this month; Hudhud slammed into the Andhra Pradesh coast on October 12 and killed nearly 20 people in the state.
India, particularly its east coast, and neighbouring Bangladesh are routinely hit by bad storms between April and November that cause deaths and widespread damage to property.
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