Cyclone Biparjoy live news: Storm makes India landfall in Gujarat

 Storm makes India landfall in Gujarat

 

• India’s Meteorological Department says landfall has made landfall near the southwestern port town of Jakhau, in the state of Gujarat.
• Howling gales and crashing waves are pounding the coastline of India and Pakistan, hours before powerful Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall.
• The storm, classified as a very severe cyclone, is expected to hit the area between Keti Bandar port in Sindh province’s Thatta district in southern Pakistan and Kutch district in western India’s Gujarat state.
• Tens of thousands of people in both countries have been moved to safer areas as heavy rains pound the region.
• Authorities on Thursday said the storm had lost some of its intensity and was expected to have a maximum sustained wind speed of between 115kph and 125kph (71mph to 78mph).

  Biparjoy ‘still at a distance’ from Pakistan

  Pakistan’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change Sherry Rehman says the cyclone is “still at a distance” from the country.

  “[Cyclone Biparjoy] will likely begin counter clockwise landfall around or after midnight [20:00GMT] in our coastal areas,

  Cyclone to cross Pakistan’s Keti Bandar port in ‘two to six hours’

  Pakistan’s weather department has said the cyclone has continued moving towards the northeast in the past three hours and is likely to cross the port of Keti Bandar in southeast of Sindh province in the next “two to six hours”.

  “Provincial Emergency Response Centre of Sindh [province] is monitoring the conditions closely and will issue updates accordingly,”

  Cyclone will lose intensity as it moves inland: Indian disaster relief official

  An official with India’s National Disaster Response Force says the cyclone will lose intensity as it moves inland in the direction of central Gujarat and neighbouring Rajasthan.

  “The main impact will be in Kachchh [district] and Saurashtra area of Gujarat, and it [the impact] has begun,” Narendra Singh Bundela, the inspector general of the agency, told local media.

  “As it [the cyclone] moves inwards, it will lose intensity, but heavy rainfall is expected in some districts, which could lead to flooding,” he said.

  Bundela said locals in the districts likely to be affected by flooding have been warned.

  He said the cyclone will not hav

  ‘Public’s duty to follow warnings,’ Indian official says

  The chief minister of India’s Rajasthan state, which borders cyclone-hit Gujarat, says, “it is the public’s duty to follow warnings and instructions.”

  “The government’s job is to alert the public, and we have done that with announcements and warnings,” Ashok Gehlot told reporters.

  “We are fully prepared and monitoring it [the cyclone] closely,” he said.

  e a major impact on India’s southwestern coastal metropolis Mumbai or its state of Maharashtra.

  “There is no major threat in the state, but the sea is expected to remain rough, and we have warned fishermen.”

  Eye of cyclone will be on land by midnight,’ Indian official says

  An official of the India Meteorological Department says the cyclone’s “wall cloud region” is entering the country’s coastal districts.

  “Its wall cloud region is entering into the coastal districts and, hence, the landfall process has commenced over the coastal districts,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the department’s director general.

  “By midnight [19:30GMT], the eye of the cyclone will be on land,” he added.

  Cyclone makes landfall in India, weather department says

  The India Meteorological Department has issued an alert saying Cyclone Biparjoy has made landfall near Jakhau Port in the state of Gujarat.

  Courtesy by:Aljazeera