Authorities in India and Pakistan evacuated tens of thousands of people from coastal areas on Tuesday as the “very severe” Cyclone Biparjoy looms.
The India Meteorological Department said that the cyclone had weakened from “extreme” to “very severe” amid forecasts that it will make landfall near Jakhau port in Gujarat’s Kutch region.
The Gujarat government said that more than 20,000 people were moved to safer places from several districts that could bear the brunt of the cyclone.
It said the evacuations included 500 people from Junagadh district, 6,786 from Kutch, 1,500 from Jamnagar, 543 from Porbandar, 4,820 from Dwarka, 408 from Gir-Somnath, 2,000 from Morbi and 4,031 from Rajkot.
Pakistan’s Sindh province disaster management body said more than 37,000 people had been evacuated from its coastal areas.
Schools and other government facilities have been converted into relief camps, Sindh’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority representative Salman Shah told The National.
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of meteorology at the IMD, warned of the destruction of thatched houses, uprooting of power and communication poles, damage to roads, disruption of railways and damage to standing crops.
“The cyclone is still dangerous and we can expect large-scale damage. Wind speed would be 125kph to 135kph crossing to 150kph at the time of landfall,” Mr Mohapatra said.
At least three people, including two children, were killed in India’s Kutch district due to the strong wind.
Two cousins, aged four and six, were killed after a wall collapsed due to the wind, while a woman on a motorbike died after a tree fell on her.
District collector Amit Arora said school buildings were converted into shelters to accommodate evacuees. (National)