Gujarat coastal areas brace for strong winds, rainfall

AHMEDABAD: A low-pressure area over southeast and east-central Arabian Sea is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm after moving northwards, affecting southern Gujarat and northern Maharashtra area, stated the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast on Sunday.


The forecast added that ‘heavy to very heavy ’ rainfall accompanied by strong winds are likely to be experienced in coastal districts of south and central Gujarat along with eastern Saurashtra on June 3 and 4.

Regional centre of IMD has advised hoisting of ‘distant cautionary (DC)-1’ storm warning signals at all ports on north and south Gujarat coasts, as the sea condition is likely to be ‘rough to very rough,’ with wind speed reaching 90-100kmph gusting to 110kmph by June 4.

‘The low-pressure area over southeast & adjoining east-central Arabian Sea & Lakshadweep area persists. It is very likely to concentrate into a depression over east-central and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea during next 24 hours and likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm over east-central Arabian Sea during the subsequent 24 hours. It is likely to move nearly northwards till June 2 morning and recurve north-northeastwards thereafter and reach near north Maharashtra and south Gujarat coasts by June 3,’ stated the IMD forecast.

Jayanta Sarkar, regional director, IMD, said that heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds is likely at isolated places in Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Gir Somnath and Botad along with Union territories of Diu, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli on June 3.

“On June 4, apart from above-mentioned districts, Dang, Tapi, Chhota Udepur, Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Anand and Ahmedabad are also likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall due to cyclonic storm,” said Sarkar. “As the storm has not been formed yet, it’s not named officially so far.”

Meanwhile, several parts of the state including Ahmedabad reported overcast sky

Gandhinagar with 42.2C maximum temperature on Sunday was the hottest city, followed by Surendranagar (42 degrees) and Ahmedabad (41.4 degrees). Majority of the coastal districts recorded maximum temperature in the range of 33.6 degrees to 40.8 degrees in Gujarat.