More than 37,500 people were shifted to shelter homes by Tuesday as multiple government agencies mounted a feverish evacuation in Gujarat’s coastal districts of Saurashtra and Kutch, anticipating a catastrophic impact of cyclone Biparjoy that is expected to make landfall near the port of Jakhau on Thursday evening with winds of 125-135kmph gusting to 150kmph.
The India Meteorological Department said, in line with the forecast, the cyclone weakened from an “extremely severe cyclonic storm” to a “very severe cyclonic storm” over northeastern Arabian Sea but will have “extensive damage potential” on entering the state. IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said the cyclone could lead to extremely heavy rainfall (over 20 cm) at isolated places in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar and Porbandar.
Among the evacuees, a majority of around 14,088 were in Kutch, followed by 5,000 in Devbhumi Dwarka, 4,000 in Rajkot, 2,000 in Morbi, over 1,500 in Jamnagar, 550 in Porbandar and 500 in Junagadh district, said Alok Kumar Pandey, state relief commissioner. These include some 284 pregnant women.