A cyclone which has threatened the western coast of India and southern Pakistan for several days has weakened but is still dangerous, weather officials said on this afternoon. Indian officials said the storm could hit western Gujarat state, scene of a devastating earthquake in January, by tomorrow evening.
Officials in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's main city, said on this morning that the storm was some 344 miles southwest of Veraval port and was moving in a north-northwesterly direction.
They said if the cyclone continued moving in a northwesterly direction the Gujarat coast would be out of danger. But they warned it could change course.
"It could possibly take a recurve and hit the Gujarat coast between Veraval and Nalya by Sunday evening," one official said.
Officials in Pakistan said the cyclone had remained almost stationary for six hours on today. They also said the storm was weakening but still a danger.
Authorities in India's Gujarat state have evacuated thousands of people from low-lying areas in the Kutch region, which was devastated by the January earthquake which killed some 30,000 people.
Gujarat has issued an alert and has placed the army on standby.
An official in the Pakistani coastal city of Badin, northeast of Karachi, said the storm could affect some 55,000 people in the area. Emergency plans had been prepared, officials said.
All ports in India's coastal region including Kandla, one of the country's biggest ports, remained closed as a precautionary measure.