Cyclone Asna: No Major Impact On Gujarat, Direction Shifted Towards Oman

Cyclone Asna, formed over the coast of Kutch in Gujarat earlier during the day, has moved into the Arabian Sea towards Oman without leaving any major impact on the region, officials said on Friday evening.

According to Kutch district collector Amit Arora, "Since the cyclone has already entered the sea and is heading towards Oman, there was an impact on the coast. Except for some rain and winds blowing at considerable speed, there was no impact here. There was no immediate news about injury or death or collapse of any major structure," said Arora.

As a precautionary measure, the local administration today had shifted thousands of people to safer locations and had asked people living in huts and mud houses to take shelter in other buildings.

Cyclone Asna: About the rare August event

Earlier today, IMD said the deep depression over the Kachchh coast and the adjoining areas of Pakistan and the northeast Arabian Sea has moved westward with a speed of 6 kmph during the past 6 hours and has intensified into cyclonic storm 'Asna' (pronounced as As-Na).

As per the prediction, the cyclone will continue moving nearly west-northwestwards over the northeast Arabian Sea, away from the Indian coast, over the next two days.

In a statement on Thursday night, IMD said, “Deep depression over Kutch and adjoining areas is likely to move nearly westwards into the northeast Arabian sea and intensify into a cyclonic storm during next 12 hours. It would then move west-northwestwards away from the Indian coast during subsequent two days."

"Development of cyclonic storms in the month of August over the Arabian Sea is a rare activity. What is unusual about the current storm is that it has maintained the same intensity over the past few days", an IMD meteorologist said on Thursday.

According to the scientists, yesterday the tropical storm was sandwiched between two anticyclones – one over the Tibetan Plateau and another over the Arabian Peninsula.

History of cyclones over Arabian Sea in August

After 1891, only three cyclonic storms have developed over the Arabian Sea in August. In a rare incident in 1944, a cyclone intensified after emerging into the Arabian Sea and weakened subsequently mid-sea while in 1964, a short cyclone developed near the South Gujarat coast and weakened near the coast.

In 1976, a cyclone developed over Odisha, moved west-northwestwards, emerged into the Arabian Sea, made a looping track, and weakened over the northwest Arabian Sea near the Oman coast.