Indian cyclone weakens: officials

AHMEDABAD, India -- A cyclone that threatened India's west coast has weakened to a depression and is likely to pose no danger to populated areas, weather officials said.

The depression is centered at about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west-southwest of the port town of Porbander in the western state of Gujarat, which was devastated by an earthquake in January, they said.

"The depression is likely to weaken further over the sea and become unimportant. It will not land in the state," a weather official told Reuters in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's biggest city.

The cyclone alert issued in the coastal districts last week had been withdrawn as no damage was now expected, the official added.

The people who had been evacuated from low lying areas would now be sent back, said P. Panirvel, the state's chief relief commissioner.

Authorities in Gujarat had evacuated some 10,000 people from the coastal areas in Kutch, one of the worst places hit by the earthquake, and had placed the army on high alert.

All ports in the coastal region including Kandla, one of the country's biggest ports, were closed as a precautionary measure.

Reuters contributed to this report.