Cyclone Bipajroy: An ‘Orange’ alert has been issued for Gujarat, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a meeting to review the situation
On Sunday, Cyclone “Bipajroy” intensified into a highly dangerous cyclonic storm. By midday on June 15, it is expected to pass across Saurashtra, Kutch, and the neighboring Pakistani beaches between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan).
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a meeting to discuss the Cyclone Biparjoy situation.
The extremely severe cyclonic storm over eastcentral Arabian Sea moved northwards with a speed of 05 kmph during past six hours and lay centered over the same region 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 as of 2:30 am on June 12, 2023, a bulletin from the India-based Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) said.
Gujarat was placed on ‘orange’ alert owing to the storm by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in a bulletin sent on Monday morning. “Orange Message: Cyclone Alert for Saurashtra & Kutch Coast. ESCS BIPARJPY passed over the eastern Arabian Sea at 05:30 IST today, around 380 km southwest of Devbhumi Dwarka, near latitude 19.2N and longitude 67.7E. By noon on June 15th, you must pass near Jakhau Port in Gujarat,” it said.
Officials at the Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla near Gujarat’s Kutch have begun moving residents from low-lying regions to makeshift shelters amid the cyclone threat. Om Prakash, the Deendayal Port Authority’s public relations officer, said that six ships had already departed from the port and that 11 more would do so on Monday.
predicted harm
The RSMC said in its advisory released this morning that at the time of impact, a storm surge of about 2 to 3 m above the astronomical tide is expected to inundate the low lying parts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagarh, and Morbi districts.
Other damage warnings issued by the RSMC include total destruction of thatched houses, extensive damage to kutcha homes, some Pucca home damage, potential flying object threat, bending/uprooting of power and communication poles, significant damage to Kutcha and Pucca roads, flooding of escape routes, disruption of railways, overhead power lines, and signaling systems.
While the strength of Cyclone Biparjoy grew, delivering rain to the western sections of the state, Mumbai city and coastal areas of the state also saw high winds.
Following the temporary shutdown of the main runway due to bad weather, Mumbai Airport saw scenes of mayhem. After airlines announced delays in planned flights on Sunday night, passengers were forced to wait for hours.
“Some of our flights have been delayed or cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, the temporary closure of Runway 09/27 at the Mumbai airport, and other unavoidable consequences. As much as we can, we try to minimize interruptions, thus we apologize to our passengers for the inconvenience,” Air India tweeted.
Since it began to form on June 6, there has been a great deal of doubt over the path and strength of cyclone Biparjoy. Meteorologists claim that the storm rapidly intensified in the early days and has maintained its power because of a warmer Arabian Sea.
