Heavy rains lashed parts of Saurashtra-Kachchh region in Gujarat on Thursday as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that a deep depression in the area was likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm and hit the coast on Friday.
In a statement on Thursday night, IMD said, “Deep depression over Kutch and adjoining areas is likely to move nearly westwards into northeast Arabian sea and intensify into a cyclonic storm during next 12 hours. It would then move west-northwestwards away from Indian coast during subsequent two days.”
The authorities in Kutch district have asked people living in huts and makeshift houses to take shelter in schools, temples or other buildings after the IMD said that a deep depression over the area might turn into a cyclonic storm, PTI reported.
Following the warning by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Kutch Collector Amit Arora issued a video message asking people living in Abdasa, Mandvi and Lakhpat talukas to leave their huts and kutcha houses and take shelter in any school or other buildings. He also urged locals to come forward and provide shelter to such poor people in their houses till Friday evening.
After the IMD warning, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel reached the State Emergency Operations Centre in Gandhinagar on Thursday night and talked to Arora through video conference about the district administration’s preparedness, said an official release.
If the deep depression turns into a cyclone, it will be named Asna, a name suggested by Pakistan. This is a rare occurrence that a deep depression over land has converted to a cyclonic storm over the sea. The formation of a cyclone in August in the Arabian Sea is also rare.
Gujarat floods
More than 30 people have been killed in floods caused by heavy rains in parts of Gujarat in four days till Thursday. However, the situation in parts of rain-battered Gujarat has improved slightly as the rainfall activity subsided, but Vadodara and some other parts of the state are still reeling under a flood-like situation due to overflowing rivers while the authorities continue rescue and relief operations.
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According to the details shared by the Gujarat government, at least one person died in Aravalli, Dwarka, Panchmahal, Dang, Bharuch, Morbi, and Vadodara, six people died in Anand, five people died in Ahmedabad, three people died in Mahisagar and Jamnagar, two people died in Gandhinagar, Kheda, Mahisagar, Dahod and Surendranagar districts.
More than 32,000 people have been relocated and around 1,200 people rescued from flood-affected areas in the state. In some cases, choppers were used by the security forces to take people to safer locations, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said in its latest update.
Teams of the Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), its state counterpart SDRF, along with local administration are engaged in relief and rescue operations in the most-affected districts of Vadodara, Dwarka, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Kachchh.
Meanwhile, Vadodara, the worst-hit city due to recent downpour, heaved a sigh of relief as the water level of the Vishwamitri River went down from 37 feet to 32 feet on Thursday. However, several low-lying areas in the city are still inundated.
(With inputs from PTI)