AHMEDABAD: Indian officials were preparing on Monday to evacuate residents and stockpile food as they braced for another “very severe cyclonic storm” due to slam into the country’s west coast.

Cyclone Nilofar, building in the Arabian Sea, is due to hit India’s Gujarat state on Friday morning, the Indian Meterological Department said.

“Our taluka level officers have been sent to villages in the coastal areas to identify the population that is to be relocated,” said M.S. Patel, an official from Gujarat’s Kutch district that is expected to bear the brunt of the storm.

“We will start shifting people in the coastal regions from tomorrow morning,” he said.

India’s National Disaster Response Force has been put on alert in Gujarat, while the state government was holding an emergency planning meeting, officials said.

The storm, packing winds of up to 125km per hour (kph), comes after Cyclone HudHud hit India’s east coast earlier this month leaving some 20 people dead.

The tail-end of that cyclone also swept into Nepal causing Himalayan snowstorms that claimed more than 40 lives in the country’s worst trekking disaster.

Weather officials said the cyclone may weaken before it hits land, though it could still bring strong gusty winds and rains.

India has six categories of tropical storms based on wind speeds and damage expected, with Nilofar falling into category five, the second from top.

Cyclone Phailin, which struck India last October, had winds of up to 220kph and caused extensive damage.

India, particularly its east coast, and neighbouring Bangladesh are routinely hit by bad storms between April and November that cause deaths and widespread damage to property.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2014