The most severe cyclone to hit the western coast in a quarter century, it left a trail of destruction -- snapping power and telecommunication links, uprooting trees and levelling kutcha houses.

In many areas, telecommunication towers and pylons were bent.

Besides marshalling the State's civil administration, the armed forces were put on alert in Junagarh, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Nandiad. Indian Air Force units were also alerted.

The Army and the civil administration have been put on alert in Rajasthan also as the weather office in Jaipur predicted that the cyclone was likely to hit the southern parts of the State -- including Jalore, Barmer, Jodhpur, Pali and Sirohi -- later today or tomorrow morning. Three people were killed by the strong winds in Sanchor town, Jalore district, at 11a.m.

The cyclone was expected to move towards Maharashtra. In Mumbai, the MET office predicted thundershowers accompanied by squalls in the next 24 hours.

Strong winds reaching a speed of 65 kmph are likely along the Goa coast. Ports there have put up danger signal number three.

"Pre-cyclonic atmospheric conditions followed by drizzling and rain have covered the entire western region and southern parts of the State,"Rajasthan Chief Secretary Arun Kumar said.

He said as per the MET reports the cyclonic rain and strong winds with a velocity upto 80 kmph are likely to hit the State.

Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel called an emergency Cabinet meeting. Some senior ministers were being despatched to the affected areas to oversee the relief work, he told reporters.

Patel said nine people were killed in Porbandar when a microwave tower fell on them. Three people died in Manawadar when a wall caved in, seven people died in Jamnagar and four in Valsad district. A fisherman's body was recovered fromthe seashore near Kodinar in Junagarh district while four of his associates were reported missing. The Chief Minister said the cyclone had the maximum impact in Veraval, Porbandar and Jamnagar. Its intensity waned as it moved northward to Kutch and then eastward towards Surendranagar and Banaskantha. In Gandhidham, Bhachau and Rapar, the wind speed was recorded at 100 kmph this afternoon.

A Jamnagar report said 25 people, including eight members of a family, had died there. Unconfirmed reports, said about 40 people died in Jamnagar district.

The cyclone hit the Porbandar-Dwarka coast with speed touching 180 km per hour accompanied by heavy rains flattening entire fishing villages and uprooting trees. All telecommunication and transport routes remained cut-off throughout the day as Porbandar and Dwarka bore the brunt of the storm.

While communication could be restored with Porbandar late in the evening, there was no news of the fate of Dwarka where the maximum damage to life and property is feared tohave been caused.

Rescue teams from Jamnagar to Dwarka were returning as roads were blocked by hundreds of uprooted trees and power and telephone poles.

Porbandar collector A S Golakia told The Indian Express that several fishing villages on the coast were blown off and hundreds of pucca houses collapsed. "The storm was at its maximum intensity between 3 a.m and 10 a.m.," he said.

Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m wind speed in Jamnagar touched almost 160 km in the city areas while it went upto 180 km per hour in the open areas.