MANDVI (KUTCH)— Cyclone Biparjoy, which packed high wind speeds and brought heavy rains, caused complete disruption of normal life in Gujarat’s Kutch district on Thursday as trees were uprooted in large numbers, power failure was reported in many areas, and low-lying areas near the sea were flooded.
Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau as a very severe cyclonic storm around 6.30 pm on Thursday with wind speeds of 115 to 125 kmph gusting upto 140 kmph. The entire landfall will be over by midnight, the IMD said.
A total power blackout was witnessed in Mandvi town. Many trees were uprooted on Jakhau-Mandvi road as well as in Mandvi town due to the strong winds.
“No casualties (cyclone-related) have been reported so far,” district collector Amit Arora said.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]“Wind speed is very high. Right now we are having rains everywhere. But the situation is under control,” he added.
“We have minor damage such as 200 electric poles have been uprooted, 250 trees are uprooted, and we have cut power supply in five tehsils as a precautionary measure,” he told reporters.
“We have shifted people to shelters from the areas which are going to be most affected by cyclone which is 10 km from the shore. We shifted around 52,000 people to shelters. We have shifted 25,000 cattle to higher grounds too,” he said. No major mishap had taken place so far, he added.
“This is because we have made prior arrangements to face the cyclone,” the collector added.
As cyclone Biparjoy brought heavy rains to several parts of Gujarat, a cattle-rearer duo of father and son died while trying to save their goats stuck in a flooded ravine in Bhavnagar district on Thursday.
Several parts of Gujarat including Bhavnagar received considerable rain on Thursday as the cyclone made landfall in Kutch district.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Following a spell of rain since morning, water started flowing in a ravine passing through Bhandar village near Sihor town, said Mamlatdar (revenue official) S N Vala.
“Due to the sudden inflow of water, a herd of goats got stuck in the ravine. To save the animals, 55-year old Ramji Parmar and his son Rakesh Parmar (22) entered the ravine. However, they got swept away in the waters. Their bodies were fished out some distance away,” said Vala, adding that 22 goats and a sheep also died.
No cyclone-related death was reported otherwise in the state, officials said.
In Kutch district, which was the worst-affected region, there were no reports of deaths, said collector Amit Arora.
“Thanks to the mass evacuation we had carried out in advance, no one has died in Kutch so far due to any incident linked to the cyclone. Some trees and electric poles were uprooted due to winds blowing at a speed of nearly 80 kilometers per hour,” he said.