Cyclone Biparjoy: Gujarat braces for heavy rain; power, railways to be disrupted
With cyclone ‘Biparjoy’ likely to make landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat’s Kutch district on Thursday, the coastal districts of the state are bracing for heavy to very rainfall and gale wind speed gradually reaching 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for Saurashtra and Kutch coasts where the very severe cyclone storm Biparjoy is expected to cause damage to roads, standing crops, and houses and disrupt railways. Power and communication lines could also be disrupted with likely damage to poles.
Cyclone Biparjoy is “very likely to move northeastwards and cross Saurashtra & Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near Jakhau Port (Gujarat) by evening of 15th June as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph,” IMD said in a 2.15am bulletin.
Flood Warning
The sea condition along and off Saurashtra and Kutch coasts is likely to be high to phenomenal till the night of June 15 and improve thereafter. The Met department warned about storm surge in Kachchh, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar and Morbi districts, adding that the astronomical tide is likely to inundate the low-lying areas in these districts during the time of landfall. The astronomical tides along these districts could be upto 3-6 meters at different places.
Rain forecast
Most areas of Kachchh, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall with some parts expected to witness heavy to very heavy rainfall and extremely heavy falls at isolated places on June 15. The districts of Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi and Junagarh will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall in a few places while Saurashtra and north Gujarat region will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall.
Trains cancelled, short-terminated, short-originated
The Western Railway (WR) on Wednesday decided to cancel or short-terminate the operation of a few more trains as a precautionary measure in view of cyclone ‘Biparjoy’. It cancelled seven more trains, short-terminated three and short-originated four other trains. The release said so far 76 trains have been cancelled, 36 short-terminated and 31 short-originated.
Evacuation process
Gujarat’s relief commissioner Alok Pandey said the evacuation process in the coastal areas was completed by Wednesday morning with more than 74,000 people being moved to safer locations. Of the total 74,345 people moved to temporary shelters in eight coastal districts, nearly 34,300 were evacuated in the Kutch district alone, followed by 10,000 in Jamnagar, 9,243 in Morbi, 6,089 in Rajkot, 5,035 in Devbhumi Dwarka, 4,604 in Junagadh, 3,469 in Porbandar district and 1,605 in Gir Somnath district.