Cyclone Shakhti churns up Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast

The Arabian Sea churns as Cyclone Shakhti, the first storm of the post-monsoon season, gathers strength with winds whipping up to 100 kmph, officials reported on Saturday, 4 October.

Now classified as a severe cyclonic storm, Shakhti is moving deeper into the Arabian Sea, currently centred about 420 km from Dwarka in Gujarat, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD forecasts that the storm will track west-southwestwards, reaching the northwest and adjoining west-central Arabian Sea by Sunday, before recurving east-northeastwards from Monday and gradually weakening.

Under Shakhti’s influence, sea conditions are expected to be rough to very rough along the Gujarat–North Maharashtra coast and the Pakistan coast until Sunday. Fishermen have been warned against venturing into the northwest, central, and northeast Arabian Sea, as well as along and off Gujarat–North Maharashtra coasts, until Tuesday.

While the Arabian Sea sees fewer cyclones than the Bay of Bengal, recent years have witnessed severe storms like Tauktae (2021) and Biparjoy (2023).

The cyclone has been named Shakhti, a suggestion by Sri Lanka, in line with the naming convention followed by the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones, which includes contributions from 13 countries bordering the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.

With PTI inputs