Cyclone Biparjoy, which means “disaster” in Bengali language has now weakened. Biparjoy has reduced from ‘very severe’ category to ‘severe’ after the storm made landfall in coastal areas of Gujarat on Thursday. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclone has now moved from sea to land and is centred towards Sauarashtra-Kutch, adding that heavy rains are expected in Rajasthan on Friday.
Cyclone Biparjoy tore down power poles and uprooted trees Friday after pummelling the Indian coastline, but the storm was weaker than feared and there were only two confirmed deaths.
More than 180,000 people in the Indian state of Gujarat and Pakistan’s neighbouring Sindh province fled the path of Biparjoy — which means “disaster” in Bengali — before it made landfall on Thursday evening.
The storm packed sustained winds of up to 125 kilometres (78 miles) per hour as it struck — but weakened overnight, with Indian forecasters expecting it to calm into a moderate low-pressure system by late Friday.
Two men in Bhavnagar district died on Thursday evening after drowning in flood waters, the Gujarat state government said.
Relief director C.C. Patel had earlier told AFP there had been no deaths reported in Gujarat but 23 people had been injured in the storm.
Driving rain and howling winds continued to lash the state’s coast on Friday despite the worst of the danger receding.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Mukesh Pattni, 22, told AFP from the concrete shophouse where he and 10 other family members took shelter.
“I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday. Trees are falling, everything is falling apart.”
State relief commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters that nearly 500 homes had been partially damaged after Biparjoy made landfall.
More than 1,000 villages around the coast were without electricity on Friday as the force of the storm knocked down power lines.
Rescue crews were working to clear trees knocked onto roads and restore access to villages.
In Gujarat, more than 100,000 people had been moved from the storm’s path before it struck, the state government said, as well as 82,000 others in Pakistan.
Pakistan climate change minister Sherry Rehman said “no human lives were lost” on her side of the border.
“Thank God it did not directly hit the coastal areas of Pakistan,” she told broadcaster Dunya. (AFP)
