As cyclone “Biparjoy,” a very strong cyclonic storm, is expected to make landfall along the Saurashtra-Kutch coast, authorities have banned fishing operations around Gujarat’s south and north shores and have started evacuating residents in seaside areas, officials said on Monday.
Devbhumi Dwarka officials on the coast reported that approximately 1,300 individuals have already been relocated to safer locations in this regard.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated in its most recent bulletin that a “very severe cyclone” with a maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 kilometres per hour (kmph) and gusting to 150 kmph was very likely to move north-northeast and cross Saurashtra and Kutch as well as adjacent Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) by noon on June 15.
According to the report, the extremely dangerous cyclone Biparjoy was located in Pakistan around 660 kilometres south of Karachi and about 540 kilometres west of Mumbai, 360 kilometres southwest of Porbandar, 400 kilometres south-southwest of Devbhumi Dwarka, and 490 kilometres south-southwest of Naliya.
The local administration is attempting to evacuate people from places close to the sea in the districts in the Saurashtra-Kutch regions as Section 144, which prohibits assembly of persons greater than a figure authorised by authorities, has been implemented in coastal areas of Kutch district, they added.
The officials claimed that warning signs have been erected along the coastlines and that fishermen have been warned not to go out to sea in the north Arabian Sea or the central Arabian Sea until Monday and until June 15, respectively.
The state administration has been ordered by the federal government to control onshore and offshore activity and organise evacuations from the coastal regions of Saurashtra and Kutch, including Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh, and Morbi.
The districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, and Jamnagar have received warnings from the IMD for heavy to very heavy rainfall, with isolated extremely high rainfall, on June 15.
The IMD noted that isolated locations in north Gujarat districts may also experience significant rainfall, as will a few spots in other districts in the Saurashtra area that are near to the shore.
The IMD has also stated that during the period of impact, a storm surge of roughly 2-3 metres above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying regions in the aforementioned districts, and sea breezes may reach speeds of up to 190 kmph.
When the storm made landfall in the Saurashtra Kutch region on June 15, the IMD had issued a warning that wind gusts of up to 120–130 kmph and sustained winds of 145 kmph were possible.
According to the forecast, sea conditions will likely be rough to extremely difficult until Wednesday evening and then high to phenomenal until noon on June 15 before getting better.
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