Gujarat braces for Cyclone Biparjoy; landfall likely on June 15, 7,500 moved to safety

Ahmedabad/New Delhi: Authorities have moved 7,500 people to safer places and put in place an elaborate evacuation plan in Gujarat as powerful Cyclone 'Biparjoy' in the Arabian Sea appears set to hit the western state on June 15 with winds gusting up to 150 kilometres per hour, officials and the IMD said on Monday.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed officials to ensure safe evacuation of people living in vulnerable locations in the path of the cyclone that was likely to make landfall on Thursday afternoon and will be preceded by extremely heavy rainfall.

The PM chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of the Centre as well as the Gujarat government to deal with the situation arising out of the impending cyclone.

'Biparjoy' was likely to make landfall near the Jakhau port in Kutch district on Thursday afternoon as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

In May 2021, another powerful cyclone, 'Tauktae', had hit the Gujarat coast.

Officials said authorities in the coastal districts of Kutch, Porbandar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Morbi began evacuating people residing near the sea and had suspended fishing activities as well as hoisted warning signals at ports.

"The cyclone is likely to make landfall near the Jakhau port. It will hit Gujarat coast around noon on June 15. It will be preceded by winds with speeds of 135-145 kmph gusting to 150 kmph and extremely heavy rainfall," said IMD Ahmedabad centre director Manorama Mohanty.

A warning has been issued for heavy rainfall for Saurashtra-Kutch and Gujarat regions during June 15-16 and fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea till June 16, she said.

Around 7,500 people have been shifted to safer places, and a proper evacuation operation will begin from Tuesday for people residing in villages located within a distance of 10 kilometres from the coast in Kutch-Saurashtra districts, officials said.

More than 3,000 people were evacuated from 31 villages in Porbandar, while in Devbhumi Dwarka, more than 1,500 people were shifted to safer places, they informed.

"Some 3,000 people, especially fishermen and labourers working at a port, were shifted in Kandla. Residents of some slums near the sea have also been moved in Mandvi. Around 23,000 people residing in villages within a radius of 10 km from the coast will be moved to (makeshift) shelter homes from Tuesday," Kutch collector Amit Arora said.

At the high-level meeting in New Delhi, PM Modi asked senior officers to take every possible measure to ensure people living in vulnerable locations are safely evacuated by the state government, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

Modi directed to ensure maintenance of all essential services such as power, telecommunications, health and drinking water, and restore them immediately in the event of any damage caused to them. The PM also directed that the safety of animals should be ensured and ordered the setting up of 24x7 control rooms.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has pre-positioned 12 teams, which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters and telecom equipment, and has kept 15 teams on standby, the PMO said.

In a tweet, the IMD said, "Cyclone Alert for Saurashtra and Kutch Coast: Orange Message. ESCS BIPARJOY lay at 0830 IST today, about 320km SW of Porbandar, 360km SSW of Devbhumi Dwarka, 440 km South of Jakhau Port, 440 km SSW of Naliya. To cross near Jakhau Port (Gujarat) by noon of 15th June as VSCS." Authorities in Kutch district imposed section 144 in the coastal areas and all schools and colleges were shut down till June 15, officials said.

Meanwhile, some parts of coastal districts in south and north Gujarat such as Valsad, Gir Somnath, Bhavnagar and Amreli received light rainfall on Monday morning.

Teams of National and State Disaster Response Forces (NDRF and SDRF) were being kept on stand-by in affected districts and the administration was in touch with the Army, Navy and Indian Coast Guard, the officials said.

In its latest bulletin issued during the day, the IMD said the cyclone moved northwards with a speed of 7 kmph and lay centred around 320 km southwest of Porbandar, 360 km south-southwest of Devbhumi Dwarka, 440 km south of Jakhau Port, 440 km south-southwest of Naliya and 620 km south of Karachi (Pakistan).

The met department said the cyclone was very likely to move nearly northwards till the morning of June 14.

The Centre has directed the state government to regulate onshore and offshore activities and mobilise evacuation from coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch from districts including Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh and Morbi.

The IMD has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar on June 15.

In view of the impending cyclone, the NDRF has deployed two additional teams in Mumbai as a precautionary measure, an official said on Monday.

The NDRF teams, in addition to three already deployed in the metropolis, have been stationed at Andheri and Kanjurmarg areas in the western and eastern suburbs, respectively, he said.

"We have deployed two teams in addition to the three that are already available in Mumbai as a precautionary measure," the official said, adding teams of the disaster response force based in Pune have been kept on standby.

He said the NDRF has also moved four teams to Gujarat to tackle the possible fallout from the cyclone in the Arabian Sea.

Meanwhile, Mumbai witnessed some incidents of tree falls due to high velocity of winds since Sunday night, a civic official said.