AHMEDABAD: India was on Wednesday shifting thousands of people out of the way of Cyclone Nilofar due to hit the region this weekend.
Nilofar — listed as a “very severe cyclonic storm” by Indian weather officials — is barrelling across the Arabian Sea packing winds of up to 220 kilometres an hour.
The cyclone will weaken substantially as it reaches the coast of the western Indian state of Gujarat on Saturday, according to the Indian Meteorological Department forecast.
Nilofar will “cross the coast as a marginal cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 60-70kms per hour, gusting to 80kms per hour”, the department said on its website.
Indian authorities said they were taking no chances with the storm — which is expected to make landfall in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
“We have identified around 30,400 people who will be shifted from coastal areas to safer places by this evening,” Kutch official M.S. Patel said.
The storm comes after Cyclone Hudhud slammed into India’s east coast earlier this month, leaving some 20 people dead.
The tail end of that cyclone swept into neighbouring Nepal causing snowstorms that claimed more than 40 lives in one of the country’s worst Himalayan trekking disasters.
Cyclone Phailin, which struck India last October, had winds of up to 220kms per hour and caused extensive damage.
The South Asian region is routinely hit by bad storms between April and November that cause deaths and widespread damage to property.
Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.