Gandhinagar: At a time when the state machinery in Gujarat is all braced up in the wake of approaching cyclonic storm ‘VAYU’, one can remember the last two such occasions when despite all the hype and hoopla, the cyclones ‘Nilofar’ and ‘Ockhi’ turned out to be a ‘fiasco’ of sorts when making a landfall.

In October 2014, barely months of the installation of Narendra Modi- 1 government, the met predicted that an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nilofar would hit the Gujarat coast with an speed of 200 to 215 km per hour. Nilofar originated from a low pressure area between India and the Arabian Peninsula. It developed into a depression on October 25 that year and moved generally northward through an area of favorable conditions. The system intensified into a cyclonic storm on October 26. Quickly organizing due to the conditions, Nilofar developed a well-defined eye and structure, attaining its peak intensity on October 28. At the time, Nilofar was to make landfall in Gujarat, prompting major evacuations and preparations involving all the three wings of armed forces and coast guards, marine police and general police. However, high wind shear caused the storm to rapidly weaken, and Nilofar degraded into a remnant low pressure area on October 31 and it touched the Jakhau coast in Gujarat like a gusty wind only.

The hype at that time was such that for better communication system Vsat nodes of the ISRO were arranged.11 columns of Army were deployed.

Later, in December 2017, when state assembly elections were underway, similar situation arose due to cyclone Ockhi. Wide spread rain caused by it though affected the campaigning to some extent its landfall near Surat coast was also an equal fiasco. CM Vijay Rupani had made a night halt in Surat then on the day when nightfall was to take place. Despite elaborate rescue and relief arrangements, it also turned out to be an extremely weakened landfall.