Biparjoy makes landfall; strong winds, rains lash Gujarat

Press Trust of India

Ahmedabad / New Delhi: Cyclone Biparjoy started making much awaited landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat’s Kutch district on Thursday evening after churning across the Arabian Sea for over 10 days as multi-agency response teams remained alert for relief and rescue efforts, while about one lakh people were moved to safer places in the state.

The landfall process will be completed by midnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Strong winds and heavy rains battered Kutch and Saurashtra coasts as hundreds of personnel from disaster management agencies and other departments remained on high alert for relief and rescue operations, while three persons were injured in Devbhoomi Dwarka district after a tree fell on them.

“Dense convective clouds have entered Kutch and Devbhumi Dwarka districts and therefore, the landfall process has commenced. It will continue until midnight,” IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said in New Delhi. Landfall indicates a cyclonic storm moving over land after being over water. The eye of the cyclone is around 50 km in diametre. Biparjoy is marching ahead with a speed of 13- 14 kmph.

Thus, it will take around five hours for the wall cloud and the eye to completely cross into the land, Mohapatra said. Destructive wind force uprooted many trees and electric polls near Jakhau and Mandvi towns of Kutch as tin sheets and plastic shades were blown away. Until 7 pm, there was no report of any loss of life, said Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said.

“Three persons sustained injuries in Devbhoomi Dwarka district after a tree fall and they are being treated. Teams of the Gujarat police, the NDRF and the Army are working at ground level in different parts of Dwarka to remove uprooted trees and electric poles,” Sanghavi said. The `very severe’ cyclonic storm Biparjoy is centered over north Arabian Sea but it is coming closer to the Saurashtra coast with a wind speed of 115-125 kmph, gusting to 140 kmph, the IMD said in a statement in Ahmedabad.

Authorities have evacuated around one lakh people living in vulnerable areas in coastal districts of Gujarat following a prompt warning from the IMD about the “extensive damaging potential” of the cyclone, the second powerful storm to hit the state in three years after ‘Tauktae’ in May 2021. Officials said 15 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, 12 of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and personnel of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, Indian Coast Guard and Border Security Force have been deployed for relief and rescue operations.

The Met office had earlier warned of very heavy (11.5 cm to 20.4 cm) to extremely heavy rainfall (over 20.5 cm) in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi and Junagarh districts. It said the cyclone would cause ‘astronomical tide’ with a storm surge of 2-3 metres height that could inundate lowlying areas in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar and Morbi districts during the landfall.

Sea conditions are phenomenal (waves could be 10 to 14 metres high) in the northeast and the adjoining east-central Arabian Sea and all activities, including oil exploration, ship movement and fishing, have been suspended. Biparjoy is the first major cyclone in the Arabian Sea this year,