New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for the coasts of Saurashtra and Kutch as “Biparjoy” has intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm over east-central and northeast Arabian Sea.
Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issues orange alert for Saurashtra & Kutch Coasts in view of extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm “Biparjoy” over east-central and adjoining northeast Arabian Sea: IMD
(Pic source: IMD) pic.twitter.com/4W3cKU0Abb
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“Sea conditions along and off Saurashtra and Kutch coasts will likely remain ‘rough to very rough’ till Wednesday, and very rough to high on Thursday,” the IMD said.
It said Kutch, Jamnagar, Morbi, Gir Somnath, Porbandar, and Devbhumi Dwarka districts were likely to be impacted by the cyclone with heavy rainfall and very high wind speed during 13 to 15 June which could go up to 150 kmph.
The National Disaster Management Authority in Pakistan has also put authorities concerned on high alert as the cyclone is likely to affect Sindh’s coastal region on 13 June.
The storm will hit the area between Pakistan’s Keti Bandar and the Gujarat coast on 15 June.
Meanwhile, the Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla at Gujarat’s Kutch has started evacuating people from low-lying areas to temporary shelters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting Monday afternoon to review preparedness for the cyclone.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel visited the State Emergency Operation Center Sunday to check how ready the coastal districts were to deal with any crisis situation.
High tidal waves hit the Kutch coast Monday as it did that of Maharashtra, including Mumbai.
Flight operations in Mumbai were disrupted Sunday evening as the weather turned choppy while the storm approached Gujarat.
Several flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted. Air India tweeted Sunday night that “inclement weather conditions and the temporary closure of Runway 09/27 at the Mumbai airport, in addition to other consequential factors beyond our control have resulted in delays and cancellation of some of our flights”.
The country’s biggest airline Indigo too made several changes in its scheduled flights.
As of Sunday night, the extremely severe cyclonic storm lay about 540 km west of Mumbai, 360 km southwest of Porbandar, 400 km south-southwest of Devbhumi Dwarka, 490 km south-southwest of Naliya and 660 km south of Karachi in Pakistan, the Met department said.
Also read: Pakistan: Authorities on high alert as Cyclone Biparjoy likely to hit Sindh’s coastline