Cyclone Phyan fizzles out

The Chief Minister’s Office in Gandhinagar on Wednesday morning prepared an action plan for disaster management and put district
officials on high alert. In Mumbai, schools and colleges closed their gates by afternoon. Navy and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) appealed to the private sector to shut shop by afternoon. And Gujarat and Mumbai waited with bated breath for Phyan to hit.

But Cyclone Phyan, which in Burmese means vicious fruit from the weather god, lost much of its bite. It barely scraped by the Mumbai’s coastline: Phyan crossed the coast between Mumbai and Alibag between 3.30pm and 4.30pm without causing much damage.

By late afternoon, cyclone alert was removed from Gujarat. With the scare gone, people in Surat, Vadodara and even Ahmedabad made the most of the unexpected change in weather. Heavy rainfall was recorded in regions of Valsad, Surat and some villages of coastal Saurashtra.

However, heavy rains lashed Mumbai even as the state machinery was geared to tackle any eventuality. “Instead of moving towards Gujarat, the cyclone changed its course to Rajasthan in the evening. By then it had dissipated,” said Mahesh Narvekar, deputy chief officer, disaster management cell of BMC.

Meanwhile, the weather department has said that though the system is weakening and on its way out, it has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mumbai and some parts of Gujarat over the next 24 hours. Officials did not rule out the possibility of shutting the Bandra-Worli Sea Link as a safety measure.

“The cyclone has weakened and the depression is expected to move north-north-easterly,” said director of India Meteorology Department, Gujarat, Kamaljeet Ray.

However, four people were killed and over 1,000 houses were partially damaged in the districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Thane and Raigad of Maharashtra after Cyclone Phyan hit the coast on Wednesday morning.