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Vikram Vakil in Surat
More than 100 fishermen are believed to be missing at sea off the Gujarat coast, following warnings of a cyclone.
While government officials refused to confirm this, local villagers told rediff.com that 11 boats from Valsad district and four from Daman are still to return home.
They were part of teams that had left on fishing expeditions a fortnight ago, when the cyclonic disturbances had not developed in the Arabian Sea.
With each boat carrying a complement of eight crew members, the total number of fishermen missing is reckoned at 120.
The villagers said that since the boats do not have any wireless communication equipment, it was not possible to get in touch with the fishermen. But they hoped the fishermen would have noticed the storm building up and moved over to the nearby Pakistan coast if they were unable to get back home.
Meanwhile, the collector of Surat told rediff.com that three villages in the area were evacuated after sea water flooded them.
She said the wind speeds had also risen at places to as much as 240 kph and the district administration was on full alert.
PTI adds: The defence forces were Thursday put on high alert and the authorities began evacuating villagers from low-lying areas, as the cyclone raced towards coastal areas, raising fears of a catastrophe four months after the killer earthquake struck the state.
Tidal waves, triggered by strong wind velocity in the Arabian sea, where the cyclone is brewing, washed away 200 houses in two villages along the coast of Kosamba in Valsad district of Gujarat.
The storm, which lay centred about 500 km south of Veraval coast in Gujarat, was heading northwestwards and is likely to strike the south Gujarat coast by Saturday morning.
"We expect the storm to hit south Gujarat coast between Veraval and Surat by the morning of May 26," Indian Meteorological Department Director Dr A B Mazumdar said in Pune.
The storm could trigger gale forces with wind speed reaching 220 kmph along and off south Gujarat.
The army was put on high alert in Gujarat, with Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel asking it to be ready for any eventuality. Round-the-clock control rooms equipped with satellite telephones have been set up in coastal districts, official sources said.
Four AN-32 transport aircraft, two MI-8 helicopters and four Chetaks were kept in a state of preparedness at Ahmedabad airport, they said.
Two naval ships have also been kept ready, with relief materials, and another was being readied to meet any situation.
The National Crisis Management Committee reviewed all preparedness at a meeting held by Cabinet Secretary T R Prasad in New Delhi.
EXTERNAL LINK Surviving Cyclones
ALSO SEE: Gujarat Govt Geared Up to Face Cyclone
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