Cyclone ‘Maha’ Likely To Hit Gujarat On Wednesday, State On Alert

Parts of Gujarat including Ahemdabad and Saurashtra are expected to receive moderate to heavy rainfall on November 6 and 7, as severe cyclonic storm 'Maha' is expected to make landfall along the coast between Dwarka and Diu. In a bid to minimize the impact of the storm 'Maha', the Gujarat government has made elaborate arrangements. 

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani reviewed the state preparedness in a high-level meeting in Gandhinagar. Additional Chief Secretary of Revenue department Pankaj Kumar said that most of the fishing boats ventured into the sea have been returned safely. Coast Guard and 15 teams of NDRF have been kept on while 4 ships of western naval command also kept ready to render assistance. 

‘Maha’ intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm but is expected to weaken into a severe cyclonic storm at landfall. According to the IMD, Cyclone ‘Maha’ is very likely to cross the Gujarat coast between Diu and Dwarka as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph around midnight of November 6 and early hours of November 7. 

According to the MeT department, Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Bharuch, Surat, Dangs, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman and in districts of Saurashtra, Kutch and Diu like, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Devbhumi Dwarka, Gir Somnath, Botad, and Diu are likely to receive rainfall. 

Also, there may be isolated rainfall in western Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and western Madhya Pradesh. 

The reason Arabian sea has so many cyclones this year is because of warmer sea surface temperature. It is worth mentioning here that Cyclone ‘Maha’ is the third cyclone formed in the Arabian sea this year after Cyclone Vayu in June and Cyclone Kyarr in October. 

Also Read: Cyclonic Storm 'Maha' To Bring Heavy Rain To Maharashtra: IMD

According to downtoearth.org.in, ‘Maha’ was earlier moving towards the Oman coast but took a U-turn. The name Maha (pronounced as M'maha) was given by Oman. In the meantime, on India's east coast, Odisha was preparing for Cyclone Bulbul. Back in May, the state faced the fury of Cyclone Fani. 

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