Gandhinagar: Cyclone Biparjoy has already started hitting normal life before its landfall on June 15 near the fishing port of Gujarat’s Jakhau. Indian Coast Guard ships were seen patrolling off the coast of Gujarat on Tuesday morning, while Western Railways said that 67 trains have been cancelled. Visuals from Mumbai’s Worli Sea Face showed high tidal waves in the Arabian Sea.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation with him regarding the status and preparedness for the cyclone in his state. The PM assured to provide all possible help to Gujarat, Patel added.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ lay centered at 2:30 am over the northeast and east-central Arabian Sea about 290 km southwest of Porbandar and 360 km south-southwest of Jakhau Port. The IMD said that the cyclone will cross Saurashtra and Kutch near Jakhau Port by June 15 evening.
According to IMD, heavy rain is likely at isolated places in Kerala during the next 24 hours and there is a possibility of widespread thundershowers in the next five days. A yellow alert has been announced in various districts for Tuesday and Wednesday due to the forecast.
A yellow alert has been announced in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Kozhikode districts today and tomorrow in Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Kannur districts, the Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan’s statement read.
In the next four days, the wind speed is likely to increase by 40 to 45 km per hour along the Kerala coast and the sea is likely to be rough. Fishermen should not venture into the sea under any circumstances. The public should be extremely careful as thunderstorms and winds are likely to accompany the rain, CM Vijayan said.
A day ago, three people, including two children, were killed as the region began to feel the effects of the storm. Several trees were also uprooted due to fierce winds. Reports stated that over 12,000 people have been identified for evacuation in Kutch and Dwarka, the two districts expected to bear the maximum brunt of the storm.
So far, the affected districts include Amreli, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Kutch, Porbandar, Gir-Somnath, and Jamnagar, where the Arabian Sea was extremely turbulent with gigantic waves crashing ashore. A wall of Indureshwar Mahadev temple in Porbandar also collapsed amid the constant slamming of waves, while several parts of Veraval town were under knee-deep waters due to the rainfall.
