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Cyclone Biparjoy: 50,000 people relocated in Gujarat as IMD issues ‘red alert’
Biparjoy, with maximum sustained wind speeds ranging from 125-135 km per hour and gusting up to 150 km per hour, is expected to cause heavy rainfall across the Gujarat coastline
Nearly 50,000 people have been relocated to safer areas across eight Gujarat districts and the process was expected to be completed by Wednesday evening as ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ Biparjoy intensified over the Northeast Arabian Sea and moved north-northwestwards. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has, meanwhile, issued a ‘red alert’ for Gujarat’s Saurashtra and Kutch regions.
Biparjoy, with maximum sustained wind speeds ranging from 125-135 km per hour and gusting up to 150 km per hour, is expected to cause heavy rainfall across the Gujarat coastline. At 2.30am on Wednesday, it lay approximately 350 km west of Porbandar and was expected to cross Saurashtra, Kutch, and the adjoining Pakistani coast, between Mandavi in Gujarat and Karachi on Thursday evening.
IMD said Biparjoy is expected to cause heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated locations in Kachchh, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagarh, and Morbi on Wednesday. The intensity of rainfall is expected to increase on Thursday.
Extremely heavy rainfall is expected at isolated locations in Kachchh, Devbhumi Dwarka, and Jamnagar. Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi, and Junagarh. Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in parts of Saurashtra and the north Gujarat region on Thursday as well.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke to all three service chiefs and reviewed the preparedness of the armed forces ahead of the cyclone’s landfall. “The Armed Forces are ready to provide every possible assistance to civil authorities in tackling any situation or contingency due to the cyclone,” he informed via Twitter.
Relief commissioner Alok Pandey said the maximum number of people (17,739) were relocated from Kutch, followed by Jamnagar (8,542), and Rajkot (4,497). Eighteen teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 12 teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in places such as Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Rajkot, Jamnagar, and Junagadh.
Over 4,000 hoardings have been removed ahead of the cyclone. Officials said 597 teams from the Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited have been mobilised to promptly restore power supply in the aftermath of the cyclone.
IMD has also issued a storm surge warning for Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, and Morbi districts. The low-lying areas in these districts are at risk of being inundated. The storm surge of about two-three meters above the astronomical tide is anticipated during the landfall.
Ravi Gandhi, Border Security Force inspector general (Gujarat), visited the coastal areas of Bhuj to oversee the preparations and took stock of readiness to deal with any contingency.
