Cyclone Biparjoy less than 200 km from Gujarat coast; 74,000 evacuated

Cyclone Biparjoy is less than 200 kilometres from the Gujarat coast and its impending landfall on Thursday evening, along with the anticipated heavy rain and storm surge, have led to the evacuation of 74,000 people living in vulnerable areas, authorities have said.

The administration has shifted people from nearly 120 villages located between zero and 10 km from the seashore in Kutch district.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Biparjoy is expected to make landfall near Jakhau port as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour.

The IMD said that the intensity of rainfall will increase as the powerful weather system approaches the coast, with isolated places in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts likely to witness extremely heavy rainfall.