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Ahmedabad, June 13 As the ‘extremely severe’ cyclonic storm Biparjoy approaches the Gujarat coast, the State administration is shifting people living within a 10-kilometer range from the coast to safety, in a phased manner.
Alok Kumar Pandey, State Relief Commissioner, said the cyclone will make landfall between Mandvi and Jakhau port in the North-western part of Kutch district on June 15. The cyclone impact will be seen in the coastal districts of Kutch, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Morbi, Devbhumi Dwarka, Junagadh and Gir Somnath, besides the north Gujarat districts of Patan and Banaskantha.
The districts are likely to face extremely heavy rainfall on June 14-15 with windspeeds of 125 km per hour. “We are shifting people living within 0-5 km and 5-10 km from the coast to safety. Adequate stocks of electricity equipment, including poles, have been arranged at the sub-stations to restore power supply after the cyclone,” he said.
The Gujarat Government has started deploying National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in these districts. As of Monday evening, 12 teams from NDRF and SDRF each have been deployed in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Morbi, Gir Somnath, Junagadh and Rajkot, besides teams put on standby at Vadodara and Gandhinagar.
Pandey also said 24,000 fishing boats have been moved to safety, while shelter homes are being set up with food and medical supplies at schools and government offices in the districts.
Road transport will be suspended in these districts once the wind speed crosses 60 kmph. Over 100 trains are likely to be impacted due to the cyclone. Also, the Kutch district administration has suspended academic activities till June 15.
Taking stock of the situation and preparedness, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a video conference with the Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel accompanied by Chief Secretary Raj Kumar and other key officials.
Categorised as an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm - Biparjoy was about 280 km southwest of Porbandar on June 12 evening and was moving north at a speed of 8 kmph.
“It is very likely to move nearly northward till June 14th morning and then move north-northeastwards and cross Saurashtra & Kutch and the adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near Jakhau Port by noon of June 15th as a Very Severe Cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speeds on surface at 125-135 kmph, gusting to 150 kmph,” said an advisory issued by the National Emergency Response Centre under the Union Home Ministry on June 12.
The Met department has issued a heavy rainfall warning Orange Alert for the target districts. High 3.5-7 meter tall tidal waves are likely till midnight of June 13.
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