The people of Gujarat and the State administration on Wednesday heaved a sigh of relief as Cyclone Ockhi dissipated over the Arabian Sea, sparing the poll-bound state.
The cyclone was on Tuesday headed towards Gujarat after leaving a trail of destruction on the southern Indian coast. It passed the Mumbai coast, and much to the relief of the people in the Maharashtra capital, it just brought rains and there was no loss of life or damage to property.
Turns into low pressure
As per an early morning release by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclonic storm first turned into a ‘deep depression’, then into a ‘depression’ and finally into a ‘low pressure’ area after midnight.
“The depression over eastcentral and adjoining northeast Arabian Sea weakened into a well-marked low pressure area over eastcentral Arabian sea and adjoining areas of northeast Arabian Sea, north coastal Maharashtra and south coastal Gujarat at 23:30 hours on yesterday,” the release said.
The cyclone dissipated over the sea before hitting the Gujarat coast, said Jayanta Sarkar, director of the MeT Centre in Ahmedabad.
“The cyclone did not reach Surat at all. It dissipated into the sea before making a landfall on the southern coast. From a deep depression, it became a depression, then became a well-marked low pressure. Now, it is just low pressure. It may bring light to moderate rain in some parts of the State today,” he said.
'Sea condition will be rough'
As per the IMD release, the sea condition would be rough along and off south Gujarat and adjoining north Maharashtra coasts in the next 12 hours.
“Fishermen along and off north Maharashtra and south Gujarat coasts are advised not to venture into sea during the next 12 hours,” the release said.
Till Tuesday evening, there was a fear that Cyclone Ockhi may hit the Gujarat coast by midnight. However, the cyclone lost its strength and turned into a ‘deep depression’ when it was around 240 km away from Surat.
It later turned into a ‘depression’ when it was still away from the coast and gradually weakened into a well marked low pressure by Wednesday morning.
To face the eventuality in view of the cyclonic storm, the State government had deployed teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in several parts of south Gujarat and Saurashtra. It had also alerted the Air Force, the Coast Guard and the Navy.
Amid his busy poll campaign schedule, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Chief Secretary J.N. Singh rushed to Surat on Tuesday to oversee relief operations.
People shifted to safer locations
Around 1,600 people were also shifted to safer locations, as a precautionary measure.
“Conducted review meeting with officials in view of Ockhi cyclone at Surat. Instructed them to leave no stone unturned to counter any adverse situation...No need to panic,” Mr. Rupani tweeted.
