Cyclonic storm Biparjoy hits the Gujarat coast, landfall process continue till midnight: IMD

New Delhi: The Severe Cyclonic storm Biparjoy hit the Gujarat Coast on Thursday evening with gusty winds at over 100 kmph and heavy rains lashed the Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat.

“The landfall is expected to continue till midnight as the eye of the storm, which is about 50 km in diameter, will cross into land later in the night,” said the IMD.

According to the IMD’s latest updates, the storm will weaken into a severe cyclonic storm later tonight with winds of 105 to 115 kmph (gusting to 125 kmph).

By the early hours of Friday, it will turn into a cyclonic storm with winds between 80 to 90 kmph (gusting to 100 kmph). At least three people were injured after trees fell in Gujarat’s Devbhoomi Dwarka district.

Many trees and electricity poles were uprooted near Jakhau and Mandvi towns in the Kutch district while tin sheets used in house construction were blown away.

The Met Office has warned of very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi, and Junagarh districts.

It added that the cyclone would cause “astronomical tide” with a storm surge of 2-3 meters in height that could inundate low-lying areas in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar and Morbi districts.

Meanwhile, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw monitoring the control room as Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall.

As many as 99 trains were canceled by the Indian Railways on Thursday evening in view of the cyclonic storm ‘Biparjoy’ 39 trains were also short-terminated, Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway said.