Cyclone Gulab, which crossed Odisha, Telangana, and Maharashtra to arrive at South Gujarat, transformed into a low-pressure region over South Gujarat on Wednesday. It is probably going to transform into a downturn by Thursday morning and transform into Cyclone Shaheen over the Arabian Sea prior to heading towards Pakistan.
In the wake of the cyclone, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Wednesday held a meeting with senior officials to take stock of the situation. NDRF, SDRF and fire department personnel were directed to be on standby to meet any eventuality.
IMD has predicted strong gusts up to 65 kmph along the South Gujarat coast on Thursday. A day later, the Saurashtra coast will experience winds up to 90 kmph at certain places as the cyclone develops into a depression. Almost the entire state, including districts of Ahmedabad, Surat, Navsari, Anand, Bharuch and Saurashtra are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall over the next 48 hours. On Wednesday, Ahmedabad had an overcast sky with sporadic showers throughout the day. Visavadar in Junagadh received the highest 7.5-inch rainfall in Gujarat, followed by 5.4-inch rainfall in Lilia (Amreli) and 4.92-inch rainfall in Bharuch. Heavy rains led to closure of one national highway and six state highways. Signal number 3 was flashed in Porbandar. Till Wednesday, total of 18 NDRF teams were deployed in nine districts whereas two NDRF teams were kept on standby.
Ahmedabad Chief Fire Officer Rajesh Bhatt said, “Heavy rainfall is expected over the entire state and we are ready to go to any part of the state for rescue operations. About 550 to 600 firefighters of 16 fire stations have been kept on standby for rescue operations. Requisite machinery and life jackets have been kept ready.”
Heavy rains in Ukai Dam catchment area
Due to heavy rains in the catchment area of Tapi, heavy inflow of 3.10 lakh cusec water was recorded at Ukai Dam on Wednesday. Opening of gates resulted in release of 2.3 lakh cusec water from the dam. Total 500 mcm water is expected to be released from Ukai due to heavy inflow over the next few days. On Wednesday, the water level in Ukai was at 341.61 feet. Low-lying and downstream areas were alerted about the increase in the water levels of Tapi.
