Cyclone Vayu weakens, to cross Gujarat coast by night

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Ahmedabad:Cyclone Vayu has weakened and is likely to cross the Gujarat coast by Monday midnight as a "depression", the weatherman said. However, the Kutch district administration is on alert as the cyclone can cause heavy rainfall in the region.

Five teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and local authorities are prepared to carry out relief and rescue operations whenever required, an official said.

The cyclone over northeast Arabian Sea has recurved and moved northeastward with a speed of about 13 kmph in the last six hours and weakened into a "deep depression", the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest bulletin. On Monday morning, the cyclone was centered about 260 km west-southwest of Naliya, 240 km west-southwest of Dwarka and 340 km west-southwest of Bhuj in Gujarat, it said. "The system is very likely to weaken into a depression during the next six hours. It is very likely to move northeastwards and cross north Gujarat coast by midnight of June 17 as a depression," the IMD said.

The sea will remain "rough to very rough" along and off the state coast on Monday, the MeT department said. It advised fishermen not to venture into the sea during the next 24 hours. Kutch Collector Remya Mohan said five teams of the NDRF were stationed in the district to help in rescue and relief work. She said the salt-pan workers were also advised to avoid venturing into the sea waters. The cyclone was earlier predicted to make landfall in Gujarat on June 13. However, it later began to move away from the state, sparing the coastline of any possible damage. The IMD last Friday said the cyclone was likely to "recurve" and return to the coast in Kutch district as a weakened system.

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