TEHRAN, Jun 13 - A cyclone in the Arabian Sea battered an Indian fishing hub with heavy wind, waves and rain Thursday and was forecast to bring dangerous weather even as it veered away from the western coast.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The India Meteorological Department said Cyclone Vayu, the season's second major storm and named after the Hindi word for wind, had jogged west, skirting the coast of the western state of Gujarat, and was unlikely to hit it head on as previously forecast. Pakistan warned of rough seas and dangerous heat, though the cyclone wasn't expected to directly hit the port city of Karachi.
In anticipation of the storm, rescue workers evacuated nearly 300,000 people, taking a cue from Cyclone Fani, which came ashore on India's eastern coast in May, killing 34 people in India and 15 in neighboring Bangladesh.
An unprecedented evacuation effort that involved relocating about a million people ahead of Fani was credited with saving many lives.
Though not as severe as Fani and unlikely to make landfall, Vayu could leave dangerous conditions in its wake, Indian authorities cautioned.
Sathi Devi, the government scientist in charge of monitoring the storm, said Vayu would come closest to land at midafternoon, stirring up winds of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour before turning sharply westward into open water.
In Veraval, a hub of India's fishing industry, heavy wind and rain from Vayu battered the beaches.
Fishing boats were splintered by huge waves crashing onto shore. Local police were making a last-minute appeal to hut dwellers to leave their homes.
Source: AP
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