Cyclone Biparjoy: 10 things to know

Cyclone Biparjoy made its landfall along the coastline of Gujarat today (June 15) evening and the process will carry on till midnight. As per latest reports, the cyclone is losing a bit of its intensity as it is approaching the coast, but that does not mean that it would not wreak havoc in the Kutch and Saurashtra districts of Gujarat. Over 70,000 people have been evacuated in view of the cyclone, with those who reside in high-alert areas being advised to not venture outside.

Here are the 10 most important things that you need to know about the Cyclone aptly named ‘Biparjoy’, which means disaster.

Track latest updates on Cyclone Biparjoy here

-As per the latest update by the Indian Meteorological Department the cyclone has made its landfall near the Jakhau Port of Gujarat and this process will go on till midnight.

-Biparjoy is expected to bring a lot of heavy rainfall with strong winds and as per NDRF, this could lead to flooding in some regions of Kutch and Saurashtra.

-Indian authorities have managed to evacuate over one lakh people to safer places as the cyclone has neared. Pakistani authorities also have 62,000 people from risky areas.

-Railways have so far on Thursday cancelled 76 trains, short-terminated 36 and short-originated 31. In addition, various safety and security precautions are being taken by the Western Railways for train passengers in areas under its jurisdiction.

-The cyclone has already lost some steam and has been downgraded to "very severe cyclonic storm” from “extremely severe cyclonic storm”.

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-The IMD has issued heavy to very heavy rainfall warnings for Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi and Junagadh.

-The state government had said on Wednesday that 18 teams of NDRF and 12 teams of SDRF have been deployed in all eight coastal districts which are likely to be affected.

-The Defence Ministry had also said that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Indian Coast Guard have made necessary preparations to provide assistance to the local people of Gujarat.

-The cyclone started forming in the first week of June and received the name 'Biparjoy', which was suggested by Bangladesh, and means disaster in Bangla.

-The cyclone was among the reasons behind the delayed onset of monsoon in India, but according to the IMD, the storm is now totally detached from the monsoon system.

(With Agency inputs)