Cyclone Vayu turned 'very severe'; will remain strong even after landfa

Representational Image

New Delhi: An alert has been sounded in 10 districts of Gujarat as Cyclone Vayu has turned "very severe" and its impact is expected to remain strong for 24 hours even after its landfall Thursday, officials said.

As many as 52 teams of the National Disaster Management Relief Force (NDRF), comprising around 45 rescuers each, have been moved to the state, while 10 columns of the Indian Army have been kept on stand-by.

Warships and aircraft of the Indian Navy have been kept standby as well.

A general alert has been sounded across 10 district in Gujarat as wind speeds are likely to touch 170 km per hour, a Home Ministry official said.

Vayu has turned into a "very severe" cyclone and it is expected that its impact will continue to be strong for 24 hours even after the landfall -- between Porbandar and Union territory Diu, the official said.

Normally a cyclone becomes weak after its landfall.

Residents of some of the Gujarat districts have been asked to move out to safer places or cyclone shelter centres.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba Wednesday chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) where preparation for relief and rescue operations were discussed threadbare.

The NCMC meeting took stock of the precautionary measures taken by the Gujarat government and Diu UT administration with a view to ensuring that no human life is lost, damage to vital infrastructure is minimised and to ensure early recovery of all essential services post-cyclone landfall.

Diving and rescue teams and relief materials have been kept on standby for rendering assistance to civil authorities, as required, another official said.

Medical teams and facilities at Indian Naval hospital in Mumbai are on standby to handle medical emergencies.
Both the administrations have also been advised for timely evacuation of people from low-lying coastal and vulnerable areas.

The Gujarat and Diu administration are evacuating about 3 lakh people from the identified vulnerable areas and they are being shifted to around 700 cyclone and relief shelters.

Top stories of the day

• The Dutch mystery: Man wanted is on temple run in Maharashtra
• Win Rs 10,000 if you find the truck that dumped this debris in south Mumbai
• Mumbai Crime: Man rapes teenage girl in Bandra, blackmails her with video
• Mumbai: Banned newspaper is still vendors' first choice for serving food
• Meet Vasai's traffic stoppers who are being the change they wish to see
• Mumbai Crime: Chain-snatchers' new modus ends at police station lock-up
• Mumbai: Chain-snatching cases drop but recovery still poor
• Thane Municipal Corporation unprepared for monsoon, says social activist
• Mumbai: Bad roads this year, too at Aarey Colony
• Mumbai on alert in wake of cyclone Vayu: Disaster Management Department
• For non-SSC students, internal marks won't count
• Shiv Sena, BJP start bickering over CM's post, seat-sharing
• Ujjwala Raut: Here's what the 41 year old supermodel of the 90s is doing now
• Worst crimes: These monstrous mothers murdered their children!
• Amruta Fadnavis wows with her soulful performance in Los Angeles
• These famous schools, colleges are also popular for Bollywood shoots
• Narendra Modi shares a hearty laugh with Sri Lanka President
• Bollywood celebs you probably don't know are related
• Do you know Tamannaah Bhatia made her Bollywood debut at age 15?
• When Shahid Kapoor went out of his way to help his on-screen sister-in-law
• Saif Ali Khan feels bad when he reaches home and finds Taimur asleep
• Here's how Shahid Kapoor transformed for Kabir Singh
• Malaika Arora and Tara Sutaria's Bandra outing is all things casual
• World Cup 2019: Team India watch Salman Khan's new movie Bharat
• World Cup 2019: Warm-up win vs India doesn't mean Kiwis are are hot!
• World Cup 2019: Steve Waugh compares Hardik Pandya with Lance Klusener

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates