VERAVAL, India — A cyclone in the Arabian Sea battered an Indian fishing hub with heavy wind, waves and rain Thursday and was forecast to bring dangerous weather conditions even as it veered away from the subcontinent’s western coast.
The India Meteorological Department said Cyclone Vayu, named after the Hindi word for wind and the season’s second major storm, was moving parallel to the coast of the western state of Gujarat, unlikely to hit it head on as previously forecast.
Pakistan warned of rough seas and dangerous heat, though the cyclone wasn’t expected to directly hit the port city of Karachi.
Rescue workers evacuated nearly 300,000 people, taking a cue from Cyclone Fani, which came ashore on India’s eastern coast in May, killing 34 people in India and 15 in neighboring Bangladesh.
An unprecedented evacuation effort that involved relocating about a million people ahead of Fani was credited with saving many lives.
Though not as severe as Fani and unlikely to make landfall, Indian authorities cautioned that Vayu could leave dangerous conditions in its wake.