Cyclone 'Nilofar' has weakened, says Met department

New Delhi: The Meteorological Department on Friday said that Cyclone Nilofar, which is scheduled to hit the coast of Gujarat on November 1, has weakened and turned into a depression, adding that its impact will only be a moderate rainfall.

"Cyclone Nilofar has weakened after moving in the northeast direction. It has become a low pressure area. There is moderate rainfall taking place in the Saurashtra and Kutch areas. The wind speed is expected to be around 35-45 kilometres per hour along the north Gujarat coast," Cyclone Warning Division chief Mrityunjay Mahapatra said.

As a precautionary measure, people from around 40 villages have already been evacuated and nine teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed to tackle any untoward incident.

Earlier this month, Cyclone Hudhud slammed into the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, resulting in the loss of crores of rupees in property damage.