Considering that the powerful cyclone “Biparjoy” is predicted to make landfall today close to Jakhau Port in Gujarat’s Kutch region, the state government has relocated more than 74,000 residents from the coastal districts to more secure areas.
According to the meteorological office, the Saurashtra-Kutch area saw heavy rain and high gusts on Thursday as a cyclone in the Arabian Sea barreled towards the Gujarat coast.
Following ‘Tauktae’ in May 2021, this will be the state’s second hurricane in two years.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel met with senior authorities at Gandhinagar’s State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) on Wednesday night to assess the situation.
According to a CMO statement, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was updated on the evacuation plans for 164 coastal communities.
Through the CM Dashboard at the state capital of Gandhinagar, Patel spoke with the sarpanches of the villages and provided advice on how to cope with the cyclone’s aftermath.
Driving to evacuate and safety measures
Of the total 74,345 people relocated to temporary shelters in eight coastal districts, the Gujarat government reported that nearly 34,300 were evacuated from the Kutch district alone, followed by 10,000 from Jamnagar, 9,243 from Morbi, 6,089 from Rajkot, 5,035 from Devbhumi Dwarka, 4,604 from Junagadh, 3,469 from Porbandar district, and 1,605 from Gir Somnath.
The state road and construction department has sent 115 teams, the national disaster response force (15 teams), the state disaster response force (12 teams) and the state electricity department (397 teams) in various coastal areas.
“In order to restore connection and power supply, officials from the departments of energy and road and building have also arrived at the specified locations. In order to improve communication, we have also sent teams with HAM radios and satellite phones to the coastal area, according to Commissioner of Relief Alok Kumar Pandey.
IMD’s forecast
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that cyclone “Biparjoy” will make landfall on Thursday evening near Jakhau Port as a “very severe cyclonic storm” with a peak wind speed of up to 150 kph.
According to the IMD, isolated locations in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, and Jamnagar are expected to see exceptionally heavy rains. The intensity of rainfall in certain areas of the state may rise as the storm approaches.
State experiences a lot of rain
12 hours, or until 6 p.m. According to a notification from the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), rain fell over 65 talukas of districts in the Saurashtra regions on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday morning, 54 talukas spread across numerous districts had received more than 10 mm of rain in the previous 24 hours, according to an official statement from SEOC. The Devbhumi Dwarka district’s Khambhaliya taluka had the most rainfall during this time, with 121 mm, followed by Dwarka (92 mm), and Kalyanpur (70 mm).
The Western Railway said that 76 trains have been cancelled, 36 have been short-terminated, and 31 have been short-originated as a preventative step to safeguard the safety of passengers and train operations.
Centre surveillance Rajnath Singh, the Gujarati defence minister, talked with the heads of the three services on Wednesday and went through the armed forces’ preparations for dealing with the cyclone’s effects.
In order to help the civil authorities deal with any crisis or contingency that may occur as a result of the storm, Singh said that the military forces are prepared to do all in their power.
Mansukh Mandaviya, the union minister for health, also examined separately the preparation steps being implemented in Kutch. He went to the Bhuj Air Force station to see how the ‘Garuda’ Emergency Response Team of the Indian Air Force was putting things together.
The statement of Mandaviya was that “our jawans are fully prepared for the safety of life and property from the cyclone.”
He also examined the availability of oxygen, ventilators, and critical care beds at hospitals around the area, including trust-run and government hospitals in the Kutch district.
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