As Cyclone Biparjoy intensifies, PM Modi holds meeting to review situation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reviewed the situation related to Cyclone Biparjoy which is likely to hit the Kutch region of Gujarat on 15 June, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

The prime minister directed senior officers to take every possible measure to ensure that people living in vulnerable locations are safely evacuated by the state government and to ensure maintenance of all essential services including power, telecommunications, health, and drinking water. He also directed 24X7 functioning of control rooms.

The meeting was attended by Union home minister Amit Shah, principal secretary to prime minister P K Mishra, cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, earth sciences secretary M Ravichandran, Kamal Kishore, member national disaster management authority, India, meteorological department director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, among others.

Cyclone Biparjoy has brought high tide waves to Gujarat and Mumbai coastal areas. Officials at the Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla at Gujarat's Kutch have even started shifting people from low-lying areas to temporary shelters. 

Om Prakash, the Public Relations Officer of Deendayal Port Authority, in Gujarat's Kandla said that six ships have left the port and 11 more will be departing today. 

So far, around 1,300 people have been shifted to safer places in view of the severe cyclonic storm, said officials. 

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' was very likely to move north-northeast and cross Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) by the noon of June 15 as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with a maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 kilometres per hours (kmph) gusting to 150 kmph.

The weather office has advised a total suspension of fishing operations in the region till June 15 and has asked fishermen to not venture into the central Arabian Sea, north Arabian Sea during June 12-15, and along and off Saurashtra-Kutch coasts till June 15.

The Centre has directed the state government to regulate onshore and offshore activities and mobilize evacuation from coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch from districts including Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh, and Morbi. 

The IMD has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, and Jamnagar on June 15. 

A few places in other districts of Saurashtra region close to the coast will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall, while isolated places in north Gujarat districts will also receive heavy rainfall, the weather office added. 

The IMD has also said storm surge of about 2-3 metres above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas in the above districts during the time of landfall, and wind speed may reach up to 190 kmph in the sea.