Cyclone: Ahead of landfall heavy rains in parts of Gujarat; 50,000 evacuated, trains hit

Ahmedabad: Authorities have shifted nearly 50,000 people from coastal areas of Gujarat as a precaution and deployed disaster management units for relief and rescue ahead of expected landfall of powerful cyclone 'Biparjoy' as the state braced for the second severe storm in two years, officials said on Wednesday.

With the cyclone in the Arabian Sea barrelling towards the Gujarat coast, parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region received heavy rains accompanied by strong winds, the Met department said.

In May 2021, the western state was hit by cyclone 'Tauktae'.

Nine talukas in Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar and Rajkot districts received more than 50 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ended on Wednesday morning, it said.

The cyclone is expected to make landfall near Jakhau Port in Kutch district on Thursday evening as a "very severe cyclonic storm" with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The IMD said Biparjoy was set to change the path on Wednesday and begin moving north-eastwards towards Kutch and Saurashtra.

The department said that the intensity of rainfall would increase as the cyclone approaches the Gujarat coast, with isolated places in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar likely to witness extremely heavy showers.

In 12 hours till 6 pm on Wednesday, 65 talukas of districts in the Saurashtra region received rainfall, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said in a release.

According to SEOC, 54 talukas across the affected districts received more than 10 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till Wednesday morning. Khambhaliya taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka district received the highest 121 mm of rainfall, followed by Dwarka (92 mm) and Kalyanpur (70 mm).

"The cyclone is nearly 290 km away from Kutch at present. As a precautionary measure, we have already shifted nearly 50,000 people living in coastal areas to temporary shelters. The evacuation process is still on and the remaining 5,000 persons will be shifted by this evening to safer places," said State Commissioner of Relief, Alok Kumar Pandey.

Of the 50,000-odd evacuees, nearly 18,000 were shifted to shelters in Kutch district, while others were moved from Junagadh, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Morbi and Rajkot districts, Pandey told reporters in Gandhinagar.

He said 15 teams of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), 12 of the SDRF (State Disaster Response Force), 115 teams of state road and building department, and 397 of the state electricity department have been deployed in different coastal districts.

"Officials of departments of electricity and road & Building have reached designated spots to restore connectivity and power supply. We have also deployed teams carrying HAM radio sets and satellite phones in the coastal region for better communication," said Pandey.

The Western Railway said 76 trains have been cancelled, 36 short-terminated and 31 short-originated as a precautionary step.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was briefed about the evacuation measures across 164 coastal villages, a CMO statement said.

Patel interacted with sarpanches of the villages through the CM Dashboard at state capital Gandhinagar and offered his guidance on arrangements to deal with the cyclone fallout.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke to the three service chiefs and reviewed the preparations of the armed forces to deal with the impact of the cyclone.

After reviewing the preparations, Singh said the armed forces are ready to provide every possible assistance to civil authorities in tackling any situation or contingency that may arise due to the cyclone.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also separately reviewed the preparedness measures being taken in Kutch. He visited the Bhuj Air Force station to take stock of the preparations made by 'Garuda' Emergency Response Team of the Indian Air Force.

Mandaviya said "our jawans are fully prepared for the safety of life and property from the cyclone." He also reviewed the availability of oxygen, ventilators and critical care beds in Kutch district government hospitals, trust-run hospitals and other hospitals in the region.

Biparjoy is very likely to cross Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near Jakhau Port (Gujarat) by the evening of June 15 as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 125-135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph, the IMD said.

Due to this, a few places in Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi, Junagadh and the remaining districts of Saurashtra and North Gujarat regions are also likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall on Thursday.

The IMD has also forecast light to moderate rainfall with heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over north Gujarat districts and adjoining south Rajasthan on Friday.

A total of 33 teams have been earmarked by the NDRF to undertake relief and rescue operations in Gujarat and Maharashtra ahead of the expected landfall of cyclone, officials said in New Delhi.