Hectic and intense disaster-mitigation preparations were underway as Gujarat geared up to keep its October 31 date with Nilofar, a very severe cyclonic storm with winds currently gusting up to 125-135 kmph. “Nilofar is expected to make landfall near Naliya in Kutch on Friday morning,“ said the additional director of IMD, Ahmedabad, Manorama Mohanty.
On Monday, when Nilofar lay centered 1,170 km southwest of Naliya, chief minister Anandiben Patel convened two meetings to review preparations.“Fishermen have been called back from sea and trees around the landfall zone have been trimmed to avoid destruction with their falling,“ Anandiben said.
Around 1,900 fishermen -1,700 from Porbandar and the rest from Kutch -are expected to return soon. Around 1,000 boats from Veraval, Mangrol, and other coastal districts of Junagadh and Gir Somnath are at sea at present. Nilofar will move with furious wind speeds reaching up to 130-140 kmph. However, as the system comes closer to the Gujarat coast, it will weaken from being `very severe' and cross inland as a severe cyclone.
IMD officials said that squally winds blowing at 45-55 kmph and gusting up to 65 kmph will commence along and off the Gujarat coast from Thursday morning and will gather speed in the range of 100-110 kmph to 125 kmph at the time of landfall. Sea conditions along and off the Gujarat coast will be rough to very rough from October 30 morning. Light to moderate rains are expected in all districts of Saurashtra and Kutch over the next three days, IMD officials said.
“We have asked the Coast Guard to intensify patrolling and bring back fishermen who are still at sea,'' Mahendra Patel, the collector of Kutch, said. “Our target is to ensure that there is no fisherman at sea from Wednesday. We are prepared to carry out evacuation and search operations with full strength.”
A meeting of all departments concerned has been held to discuss evacuation of people to minimize damage, said Nalin Upadhyay, the collector of Jamnagar. “An advisory has been issued and people living close to the seashore have been alerted,” he said. “The Army, Navy and Coast guard have been intimated about the possibility of search-and-rescue operations in the aftermath of the cyclone.”
Sources said that Kutch, Jamnagar, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, and Junagadh will be affected by Nilofar and district administrations have chalked out plans to deal with the impact.