Cyclone Phet, which is building up in the Arabian Sea, has intensified, but has changed course and is now heading towards the coast of Oman in the Arabian Peninsula, the Met Department has said.
It is, however, expected to head back towards Karachi and the Gujarat coasts over the weekend, as a weak storm.
They added that Cyclone Phet will nonetheless bring more rain over Gujarat and Maharashtra.
At a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary A K Joti on Thursday, it was decided to shift around 7,200 people to safer places in Rajkot, Kutch and Porbandar districts.
More than 5,274 saltpan workers have also been shifted and asked to refrain from work for the coming three days.
The Met Department on Thursday evening predicted strong winds at 40-50 kmph, resulting in scattered to heavy rainfall in certain areas of Saurastra and Kutch in the next 48 hours.
Authorities have deployed nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force and eight teams of the State Reserve Police Force in Saurashtra and Kutch, while three units of NDRF have been kept ready at Gandhinagar, in addition to six units from Pune, which are scheduled to reach Vadodara late on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the state government has initiated the process to provide assistance to the families of the eight people who died due to cyclone in the state. Sources said electricity has been restored in 1,838 of the 1,853 affected villages, while work is on to restore electricity in the remaining 15 villages.
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