 "Cyclone Biparjoy")
BS REPORTER & PTI
New Delhi/Mandvi/Ahmedabad, 14 June
Authorities have so far shifted 50,000 people from coastal areas of Gujarat to temporary shelters ahead of the expected landfall of powerful cyclone ‘Biparjoy’ near Jakhau port in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
With the cyclone barrelling towards the Gujarat coast, parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region received heavy rains accompanied by strong winds.
Nine talukas in Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar and Rajkot districts received more than 50 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending on Wednesday morning.
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The India Meteorological Department said Biparjoy was set to change the path on Wednesday and begin moving north-eastwards towards Kutch and Saurashtra and have a landfall on Thursday evening near Jakhau Port.
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.
The Gujarat government has undertaken the exercise to evacuate people living in villages within a 10 km radius of the coast, with a special focus on Kutch which is likely to be worst affected by the cyclone.
The evacuation is in progress and is expected to be completed by Wednesday evening, officials said.
“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 people 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 people were shifted to shelters in Kutch district while others were evacuated from Junagadh, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Morbi and Rajkot, Pandey told reporters in Gandhinagar.
He said 18 teams of NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), 12 teams of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force), 115 teams of state road and building department, and 397 teams of the state electricity department have been deployed in different coastal districts.
“Officials of departments of Electricity and Road & Building have also 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.
Indian Army, Navy and Border Security Force (BSF) have also joined rescue and relief operations.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a meeting with the state chief secretary and senior officers at the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) and reviewed preparedness.
In coastal districts, authorities removed more than 4,000 hoardings as wind speed has increased. Shelter homes have been set up in government schools and offices in coastal districts, with arrangements for food, drink and medicine.
The IMD stated that the intensity of rainfall would increase as the cyclone approaches the Gujarat coast on June 15, with the isolated places in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar likely to witness extremely heavy rainfall during this period.
A few places in Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi, Junagadh, and the remaining districts of Saurashtra and north Gujarat region are also likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall on Thursday, it said.
Meanwhile, 69 trains stand cancelled in the Western Railway zone, with 33 trains being short-terminated. Transport infrastructure is expected to be severely hit with the arrival of the cyclone.
