Cyclone Vayu: Gujarat Seeks Odisha Help On Disaster Management

Bhubaneswar: With the very severe cyclonic storm Vayu all set to hit the Gujarat coast in the next 24 hours, the Gujarat government has sought help from the Odisha government to plan a disaster preparedness mechanism.

Gujarat chief secretary JN Singh on Wednesday had telephonic conversations with his Odisha counterpart Aditya Prasad Padhi as well as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and sought their advice on how to tackle the situation of cyclonic storm on a war-footing.

Notably, the Odisha government’s efforts in tackling the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani on May 3 has received accolades across the country and abroad.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the very severe cyclonic storm Vayu (pronounced as Vaa’yu) over the east-central Arabian Sea has moved nearly northwards with a speed of about 18 kmph in the last six hours and lay centred about 470 km west-northwest of Goa, 280 km south-southwest of Mumbai and 340 km south of Veraval (Gujarat) at 5.30 am on Wednesday.

It is very likely to move nearly northwards and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva around Veraval and Diu region as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speed 145-165 kmph gusting to 170 kmph in the morning on June 13.