Landfall on Thursday midnight as a very severe cyclone on Saurashtra and Kutch coast did not weaken Biparjoy markedly through the day on Fridaythough it hastened movement as the storm, reputedly with one of the longest lifecycles riding the Arabian Sea waters, chose to stay put within the borders of Gujarat till Friday evening. 

Cyclone status till night

India Meteorological Department (IMD) indicated the erstwhile very severe cyclone refused to be intimidated by land features, as storms normally do, and instead retained the status of a cyclone almost 16 hours after crossing the coast. It was located 20 km West of Dholavira and 80 km North-North-East of Bhuj on Friday evening. It may continue to move to North-East and weaken into a deep depression over Saurashtra & Kutch into the night only. 

Heavy rain forecast

The IMD has predicted light to moderate rainfall at most places over Saurashtra and Kutch with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places; isolated heavy to extremely heavy over North Gujarat and South Rajasthan on Friday. A high wind warning has been issued for the Saurashtra and Kutch coast, the Gulf of Kutch and South Rajasthan. As for Saturday, the same forecast is valid for South Rajasthan and adjoining North Gujarat region.  

Meanwhile, the 24 hours ending Friday morning brought heavy to very heavy rain and extremely heavy falls to Saurashtra and Kutch, rest of Gujarat and South Rajasthan. Main stations recording rain (in cm) were Gandhidham-20; Kandla Airport-16; Dwarka-15; Anjar-13; Bhuj and Mundra-13 each; Okha-11; Kandla New-10; Wav-8; Jjalore-7; Dorimanna-6; and Tharad-4.

Also read: Taking stock. No lives lost in Cyclone Biparjoy: Disaster response force chief

Further monsoon progress

The northern limit of the monsoon has remained stuck for nearly a week along Ratnagiri, Koppal, Puttaparthi, Shriharikota, Malda and Forbesganj. Conditions are becoming favourable for its further advance over some more parts of the South Peninsula as well as East India and adjoining areas during the three days from Sunday. 

RMSI revises loss estimates

A day after Biparjoy made landfall, geospatial technology solutions provider RMSI has revised upwards the total economic impact to Gujarat to ₹1,000 crore from ₹830 crore on the previous day.  Pushpendra Johari, Senior Vice-President, Sustainability, RMSI, said solar plants will have been impacted significantly. At least three major ports may have been affected, with Jakhau being the worst-hit due to its proximity to the landfalling storm.

Also read: Weakened storm. Hours after making landfall in Gujarat, Biparjoy weakens into cyclonic storm

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