Biparjoy moves towards Rajasthan, leaves trails of devastation along Gujarat coastline

Cyclone Biparjoy on Friday weakened from “very severe” to “severe” storm after it made landfall last night lashing the region with heavy rains accompanied by winds while leaving a trail of devastation in the region. According to India Meteorological Department’s weather update, the cyclone was moving towards Rajasthan and north Gujarat lashing several districts with heavy to very heavy rains.

Also Read — Trees uprooted, roofs blown off by Biparjoy in Gujarat

The Bhupendra Patel government said that “not a single human death was reported” during the cyclone and an exercise was on to ascertain the magnitude of damage to infrastructure, private properties, and crops, among others. According to the state government’s estimates, the cyclone damaged 5,120 electricity poles resulting in power outages in 4,600 villages. Officials claimed that by Friday evening only 1,000 villages were yet to receive power supply back. The official data stated that 1,137 trees were uprooted and 263 roads were blocked.

Local sources in Kutch and Saurashtra said that the extent of damage to standing crops, banana and mango orchards could be huge. Officials said that due to wind speeds of up to 140 km/hr laced with incessant rains, large-scale damages are being reported across eight affected districts including Kutch, Porbandar, and Rajkot, among others.

In a statement, the government said that 20 raw houses, 9 paved houses and about 65 huts were collapsed while as many as 474 raw houses and 2 pucca houses were partially damaged. “Due to planning well in advance, loss of human lives was avoided,” the statement said quoting relief commissioner Alok Kumar Pandey.

When asked about the death of a father-son duo in Bhavnagar from drowning, he told reporters that since the district was not affected by the cyclone, their deaths were not connected with the cyclone. To ensure “zero casualties”, the state government had shifted over one lakh people from low-lying areas to shelter homes. Among the evacuees were 1,152 pregnant women, out of whom, 709 gave birth while the cyclone was lashing the region.

Meaning “disaster” in Bengali, cyclone Biparjoy also created a record for lasting nearly ten days since its formation on June 6 over the southeast Arabian Sea. Biparjoy is reported to have become the longest-living cyclone in the Arabian Sea.