As the powerful cyclone 'Biparjoy' is expected to to make landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat's Kutch district today, over 74,000 people have been shifted from the coastal districts to safer places by the state administration.
The weather office said with the cyclone in the Arabian Sea barrelling towards the Gujarat coast, parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region received heavy rains accompanied by strong winds on Thursday.
This will be the second cyclone to hit the state in two years after 'Tauktae' in May 2021.
To take stock of the situation, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Wednesday night reached the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) in Gandhinagar and held a meeting with top officials.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was briefed about the evacuation measures across 164 coastal villages, a CMO statement said.
Patel interacted with sarpanches of the villages through the CM Dashboard at state capital Gandhinagar and offered his guidance on arrangements to deal with the cyclone fallout.
Evacuation drive and precautions
According to an official statement issued by the Gujarat government, of the total 74,345 people moved to temporary shelters in eight coastal districts, nearly 34,300 were evacuated in Kutch district alone, followed by 10,000 in Jamnagar, 9,243 in Morbi, 6,089 in Rajkot, 5,035 in Devbhumi Dwarka, 4,604 in Junagadh, 3,469 in Porbandar district and 1,605 in Gir Somnath district.
As per the government, 15 teams of NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), 12 of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force), 115 teams of the state road and building department, and 397 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 Commissioner of Relief, Alok Kumar Pandey.
IMD's prediction
According to the forecast of India Meteorological Department (IMD), cyclone 'Biparjoy' would make landfall near Jakhau Port on Thursday evening as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour.
The IMD said the intensity of rainfall in parts of the state would increase as the cyclone approaches , with isolated places in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar likely to witness extremely heavy rains.
State receives heavy rain
In 12 hours till 6 pm Wednesday, 65 talukas of districts in Saurashtra regions received rainfall, State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) said in a release.
According to SEOC's official statement, 54 talukas across several districts received more than 10 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till Wednesday morning. Khambhaliya taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka district received the highest 121 mm of rainfall, followed by Dwarka (92 mm) and Kalyanpur (70 mm) during this period.
In a bid to ensure safety of passengers and train operations, the Western Railway said 76 trains have been cancelled, 36 short-terminated and 31 short-originated as a precautionary measure to ensure
Centre monitoring Gujarat
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.
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.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also separately reviewed the preparedness measures being taken in Kutch. He visited the Bhuj Air Force station to take stock of the preparations made by 'Garuda' Emergency Response Team of the Indian Air Force.
Mandaviya said "our jawans are fully prepared for the safety of life and property from the cyclone."
He also reviewed the availability of oxygen, ventilators and critical care beds in Kutch district government hospitals, trust-run hospitals and other hospitals in the region.
(With PTI Inputs)
