Cyclone Biparjoy 200km From Gujarat Coast; High Tidal Waves Hit Gujarat, Mumbai [Watch]

Bhubaneswar: Cyclone Biparjoy, which is less than 200 kilometres from the Gujarat coast, has triggered heavy rainfall and intense tidal waves in several parts of Gujarat and Mumbai.

Over 74,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas with its impending landfall in Kutch this evening as a “very severe cyclonic storm” with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour. While orange and yellow alerts have been issued for several districts of Gujarat, high tide is expected in Mumbai at 10.29 am. Dwarka is already witnessing  rough sea conditions and strong winds under the influence of the system.

“The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm“Biparjoy” over Northeast Arabian Sea moved north-northeastward with a speed of 6 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centered at 5.30 am today over the same region, about 180 km west-southwest of Jakhau Port (Gujarat), 210 km west of Devbhumi Dwarka, 210 km west-southwest of Naliya, 290 km west-northwest of Porbandar, and 270 km south-southwest of Karachi (Pakistan).It 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 June 15 as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its morning bulletin.

According to the MeT office, the intensity of rainfall will increase as the powerful weather system approaches the coast. Isolated places in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts are likely to experience extremely heavy rainfall.

“The cyclone is expected to make landfall between 4-5pm today. 46,000 people evacuated & shifted to shelter homes. 6 NDRF, 3 RPF teams, 2 SDRF teams & 8 columns of Army are on standby. 50 teams ready for road clearance,” Kachchh Collector Amit Arora was quoted as saying.

Union HomeM Amit Shah is expected to reach Bhuj by this evening to oversee relief and rescue operation. The authorities are expecting Biparjoy’s damages to be limited to roads, light poles and kutcha houses.

IMD Director-General Mrityunjay Mohapatra had earlier said that Biparjoy is a very severe cyclonic storm with damaging potential. 2-3m high tidal waves are expected in Kachchh and extremely heavy rainfall with high windspeed expected in Porbandar and Dwarka districts.

“After the anticipated landfall in Saurashtra, Kutch and Gujarat on June 15, the storm will enter Rajasthan’s Kutch on June 16 in depressed form and will further weaken,” IMD Director Radhe Shyam Sharma told news agency ANI.