Back
PremiumCyclone Biparjoy, which means "disaster" in Bengali language has now weakened. Biparjoy has reduced from 'very severe' category to 'severe' after the storm made landfall in coastal areas of Gujarat on Thursday. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclone has weakened into a 'deep depression' and is further expected to weaken into a 'depression' in the next 12 hours.
Catch all the latest updates on cyclone Biparjoy at Livemint's blog
Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. resumed operations at its Mundra port on Saturday. CEO Karan Adani marked the arrival of the first ship with a tweet, adding that “we're up and running".
“Electricity will be restored in entire cyclone-affected area by June 20. Our priority is restoration of electricity, water supply and sending people who are in shelters to their homes," said Amit Shah.
“Nobody died due to cyclone Biparjoy which made landfall with wind speed of 140 kmph…Only 47 people injured during cyclone and 234 cattle died," said Amit Shah during his Gujarat visit.
Home Minister Amit Shah's scheduled press conference at 5 pm in Gujarat's Bhuj on Saturday was pushed back to 7 pm.
Home Minister Amit Shah visited Mandvi Civil Hospital and met the people admitted there after being affected by Cyclone Biparjoy. He also also met the people of Kathda village in Mandvi district.
Earlier on Saturday, the senior politician had conducted an aerial survey of areas affected due to Cyclone Biparjoy in Gujarat's Kutch.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will hold a press conference in Bhuj at 5pm today, news agency ANI has reported.
Authorities in Pakistan's Sindh on Saturday lifted all restrictions, including going into the open sea, after Cyclone Biparjoy spared the province and its capital Karachi.
The Sindh government had evacuated some 80,000 people from the coastal areas of the province.
The cyclone made landfall near the Gujarat coast on Friday and Pakistan was spared from any aftermath.
Although water levels did increase in the coastal areas like Keti Bandar where the most evacuations were done no lives were lost nor was any heavy loss of property and livestock reported.
“Pakistan was prepared but largely spared the full force," Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman tweeted on Friday morning.
Shops and business establishments in Gujarat’s Kutch district opened shutters on Saturday in signs of return to normalcy as authorities stepped up efforts to restore electricity in several towns and hundreds of villages battered by Cyclone Biparjoy.
The weather system, which hit the landmass near Jakhau port as a very severe cyclonic storm on Thursday evening, turned into a deep depression and will further lose steam to become a depression, the India Meteorological Department said in its latest update.
However, heavy to very heavy rains will likely continue in many northern districts of the state, it said
Several places in Rajasthan received heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours due to Cyclone Biparjoy, which moved further towards the desert state following its landfall in Gujarat, officials said on Saturday.
A rainfall of 210 mm was recorded in Mount Abu, 136 mm in Sedwa in Barmer, 135 mm in Mount Abu tehsil, 110 mm in Raniwada of Jalore, 76 mm in Bidasaria in Churu, 68 mm in Reodar, 59 mm in Sanchor, 57 mm in Pindwara, 49 mm each in Gogunda and Girva, 47 mm in Jalore, 46 mm each in Sindri and Jaswantpura of Jalore, 40 mm in Jhadol, 38 mm in Abu Road, 35 mm in Kotda, 30 mm in Sirohi, 26 mm in Kumbhalgarh and 25.7 mm in Udaipur till 8.30 am, they said.
While speaking to ANI, Dr Mrityunjay Mohapatra, Director General, IMD said, “CycloneBiporjoy weakened into a deep depression. It is moving in the East-North East direction. Heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely at one or two places over South Rajasthan and adjoining areas of North Gujarat. Due to the cyclone, it is raining only in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Monsoon has nothing to do with this cyclone"
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Gujarat's Kutch & Jakhau Port to take stock of the situation in areas affected by cyclone ‘Biparjoy’. He will also hold meeting with CM and senior officers. He will also first conduct an aerial survey of affected areas.
Amid heavy rains and gusty winds caused by cyclone Biparjoy in coastal areas of Gujarat, a pregnant woman in complicated condition was rescued and brought to a hospital in Mandvi and safely delivered a baby on Friday.
Dr Dhruv, Gynecologist at Civil Hospital in Mandvi said that both the mother and the child are safe after the operation.
Speaking to ANI, Dr Dhruv said, "We received a call about a pregnant woman who had a very complicated case. She was 30-35 km away, and it took more than three hours for her to reach the hospital. They had to come here because they were not able to get a hospital with an anaesthesia facility, and that's why the case became complicated. The delivery could have been done only by operation, but we were able to do a normal delivery instead. Both the mother and child are safe now."
Saraswati River overflows due to heavy rainfall, and floods the area around Koteshwar Mahadev temple, near Shakti Peeth Ambaji in Banaskantha.
Strong winds and heavy rain was witnessed in Gujarat's Banaskantha.
Udaipur witnesses Cyclone 'Biparjoy' impact; glass fell from the second floor, and a car was damaged
As Cyclone Biparjoy weakened into a deep depression over the Saurashtra-Kutch region which was confirmed by the MET Director of Ahmedabad, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel expressed contentment over the way the situation had unfolded and thanked all agencies for working tirelessly.
Taking to Twitter Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel said, "We have been able to fight a big calamity without any casualty. NDRF, SDRF and other agencies worked tirelessly to mitigate any damage caused by the cyclone. This was possible under the guidance of PM Modi and HM Amit Shah. I am grateful to the people of the state for being supportive. Now the big challenge is to restore and get life back on track, all the agencies will work on it now and we will soon achieve success in it too."
After making landfall in Gujarat's coastal areas, Cyclone 'Biaprjoy', has weakened into a 'deep depression' and is further expected to weaken into a 'depression' in the next 12 hours, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in the wee hours of Saturday.
According to IMD, the cyclonic storm weakened into a 'deep depression' at 11:30 pm on Friday over Southeast Pakistan.
"Cyclonic Storm Biparjoy weakened into a Deep Depression at 2330 hours IST of yesterday, the 16th June, 2023 over Southeast Pakistan adjoining Southwest Rajasthan and Kutch about 100 km northeast of Dholavira. To weaken further into a Depression during next 12 hours," IMD said in a tweet.
Cyclone Biparjoy has adversely impacted APM Terminals Pipavav Port. In an intimation to its customers that was posted on its website on Friday, the port also said it is commencing certain landside operations with immediate effect following a considerable improvement in the weather conditions around the facility.
"101 trains have been cancelled, 42 trains have been short-terminated, while 39 trains short-originated as a precautionary measure, in view of safety of passengers & train operations with respect to the onset of Cyclone Biparjoy," according to Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway, ANI reported.
"Work has begun to restore the uprooted electric polls & trees and clear the blocked roads. 34 people injured and 94 animals dead in the cyclone," Alok Pandey, Relief Commissioner, Gujarat
Pakistan’s Sindh province experienced one of the country's deadliest floods last summer, as at least 1,739 people were killed and 330 lakh were displaced, AP reports.
Cyclone Biparjoy caused extensive financial loss to the state power utility Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited with 5,120 electricity poles getting damaged, according to officials. As many as 4,600 villages were left without power, but electricity supply was restored in 3,580, PTI reported.
Mumbai IMD scientist Sushma Nair said, "On Thursday evening, Biparjoy made landfall over the Gujarat Saurashtra coast. Mumbai has been experiencing very high temperatures because of the effect of cyclonic winds. Now, slowly the southwest-westerly winds will take over so the temperature in Mumbai should come down to the range of 33-35 degrees. Light rains will be brought by westerly winds along the western coast."
The IMD official said the steady onset of the southwest-westerly winds will bring rain to the Konkan coast.
"They will help in bringing light to moderate rainfall over the Konkan coast. That is the prediction we have given for the next four to 5 days along the coast. We are expecting maybe a little more rain in South Konkan and are also expecting rain in North Konkan", she said, ANI reported.
Gujarat Minister Rushikesh Patel on Friday said around 54,000 people have been relocated, 80,000 electricity poles have been hit and eight people have been injured in Bhuj town after Cyclone Biparjoy made a landfall in Gujarat, ANI reported.
Delhi on Friday received a fresh spell of rain under the influence of Cyclone Biparjoy and a western disturbance active over the northwest Himalayan region, the weather office said.
After churning across the Arabian Sea for more than 10 days, Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday.
During the past 24 hours, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 27.9 degrees Celsius on Friday, while the maximum is likely to settle around 38 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The city's Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded in the 'moderate' category at 108 at 5 pm, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, said Delhi witnessed light rainfall under the influence of the cyclone, a fresh western disturbance and moisture-laden southwesterly winds from the Arabian Sea which will reach the capital after crossing Rajasthan and south Haryana.
"The rise in maximum temperature in the past few days along with moist southwesterly winds and the western disturbance will lead to rain activity in northwest India," Srivastava said.
The IMD had last month predicted normal to below normal monsoon in northwest India, which could mean drier and hotter days in Delhi going ahead. (PTI)
Cyclone Biparjoy tore down power poles and uprooted trees Friday after pummelling the Indian coastline, but the storm was weaker than feared and there were only two confirmed deaths.
More than 180,000 people in the Indian state of Gujarat and Pakistan's neighbouring Sindh province fled the path of Biparjoy -- which means "disaster" in Bengali -- before it made landfall on Thursday evening.
The storm packed sustained winds of up to 125 kilometres (78 miles) per hour as it struck -- but weakened overnight, with Indian forecasters expecting it to calm into a moderate low-pressure system by late Friday.
Two men in Bhavnagar district died on Thursday evening after drowning in flood waters, the Gujarat state government said.
Relief director C.C. Patel had earlier told AFP there had been no deaths reported in Gujarat but 23 people had been injured in the storm.
Driving rain and howling winds continued to lash the state's coast on Friday despite the worst of the danger receding.
"I've never seen anything like this before," Mukesh Pattni, 22, told AFP from the concrete shophouse where he and 10 other family members took shelter.
"I haven't eaten anything since yesterday. Trees are falling, everything is falling apart."
State relief commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters that nearly 500 homes had been partially damaged after Biparjoy made landfall.
More than 1,000 villages around the coast were without electricity on Friday as the force of the storm knocked down power lines.
Rescue crews were working to clear trees knocked onto roads and restore access to villages.
In Gujarat, more than 100,000 people had been moved from the storm's path before it struck, the state government said, as well as 82,000 others in Pakistan.
Pakistan climate change minister Sherry Rehman said "no human lives were lost" on her side of the border.
"Thank God it did not directly hit the coastal areas of Pakistan," she told broadcaster Dunya. (AFP)
According to IMD, they see possibility of light to moderate to heavy rain in some places in the Gwalior-Chambal region due to Cyclone Biparjoy.
Post the cyclone, the rains have hampered the restoration work in Kutch. Meanwhile, several areas of Jalore and Barmer districts in Rajasthan are seeing heavy rain. Some areas are even witnessing 60-70 mm of rainfall. As per details, a red alert has been issued for Jalore and Barmer, and over 200 mm rainfall may occur in the areas in these areas.
India's Gujarat has experienced several cyclones in the past couple of decades. In 1998, a major storm in Gujarat caused around 4,000 deaths, according to local media, while in 2021, close to 100 people died when an 'extremely severe cyclone' named Tauktae hit the state.
The only deaths recorded were of two shepherds who died while trying to prevent their cattle being swept away during heavy rains and floods, hours before the cyclone made landfall.
The damage to life and property could be minimised owing to timely evacuation of more than 100,000 people from eight coastal districts.
They have been moved to shelters set up in school auditoriums and other government buildings a day before the cyclone struck.
Unlike previous cyclones that hit India, and several lives were lost, an early warning, accurate identification of vulnerable areas and timely conducted mass evacuations helped India to avert major casualties from cyclone Biparjoy.
Cyclone Biparjoy battered the west coast late on Thursday.
Biparjoy, which means 'calamity' in the Bangla, hit the coasts on the state of Gujarat with speeds of up to 125 kph (78 mph), blowing roofs off houses and uprooting trees and electricity poles.
The DGP of Gujarat was re-tweeted a 40-second video shared by Gujarat minister Mulubhai Bera, where a female police officer was seen cradling a baby, while her colleagues relocated the family amid ongoing rescue operations.
Bera int he Twitter post wrote, "Bhanwad's administration is vigilant to ensure security through the service…The mother who gave birth four days ago in Barda Dungar was shifted to a safe place along with the child by the police system considering the situation of Cyclone Biparjoy."
Scientists have noted that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer with climate change.
Empirically it has been witnessed that Cyclones are a regular and deadly menace on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean, where tens of millions of people live.
In 2021, the coast of Gujarat was hit by the more powerful Cyclone Tauktae, which killed more than 150 people and caused large-scale destruction.
More than 4,000 people died in India when another cyclone hit the same coastline in 1998.
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate researcher at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said cyclones derive their energy from warm waters, and that surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea were 1.2 to 1.4 degrees Celsius (34 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than four decades ago.
Cyclone Biparjoy tore down power poles and uprooted trees on Friday after pummelling the Indian coastline, though the storm was weaker than feared and there were no immediate reports of deaths.
The storm packed sustained winds of up to 125 kilometres (78 miles) per hour as it struck -- but weakened overnight, the IMD is expecting it to calm into a moderate low-pressure system by late Friday.
Two people have died and over twenty people got injured.
The Indian Metorological Department (IMD) has said, "The Severe Cyclonic Storm Biparjoy has weakened into a Cyclonic storm, and by evening it is likely to become a deep depression".
IMD, in their most recent Twitter update, said the cyclonic storm is likely to become a depression around Friday night.
The tweet read, "CS BIPARJOY at 1130IST of today and lay near lat 23.6N and long 69.8E, about 40km N of Bhuj and 250 km WSW of Deesa. Likely to weaken further into a deep depression over Saurashtra & Kutch around night of today."
The MET Director of Ahmedabad, Manorama Mohanty, said that Gujarat is likely to experience heavy rainfall today and tomorrow, as Cyclone Biparjoy weakens into a deep depression over the Saurashtra-Kutch region.
Delhi witnessed a sudden weather change on Friday afternoon when light showers lashed the national capital, like a harbinger of the upcoming weekend. Parts of the national capital received rainfall on Friday, bringing Delhiites a much-needed respite from the heat.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecast light rain and thundershowers accompanied by gusty winds in Delhi for the day.
Several ports in Gujarat were shut down in Gujarat including Adani Group’s flagship Mundra operation in the wake of the Cyclone Biparjoy.
The powerful storm brought heavy rains in several areas of India and Pakistan and saw winds gusting to as high as 140 kilometers (87 miles) an hour.
The cyclone caused extensive financial loss to the state power utility - Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited - with 5,120 electricity poles getting damaged. They are being restored.
Cyclone Biparjoy, which lashed the Kutch-Saurashtra region, has left a trail of destruction as it damaged 5,120 electricity poles and rendered 1000 villages without power even as the authorities said that no loss of human life has been reported.
Earlier, there was no electricity in 4,600 villages when the powerful cyclone wreaked havoc in several coastal districts. However, by Friday noon power supply was restored in 3,580 villages.
Six teams of NDRF have been deployed for relief and rescue operations in Kutch district.
A man and his son died trying to save their livestock in Gujarat because of cyclone Biparjoy on Thursday. In addition to the two deaths, three people were injured in nearby Devbhoomi Dwarka district. About 1 lakh people evacuated in the western state after weather officials issued a red alert warning. The cyclone is now moving towards Rajasthan on Friday, causing heavy rainfall in Jaisalmer, Ajmer, Udaipur, and other southern districts.
Cyclone Biparjoy is centered 30 km from Bhuj in Gujarat. IMD Director Mrityunjay Mohapatra said. "Biparjoy will convert into a deep depression over Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining areas with 50-60 kmph to 70 kmph," IMD added.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is resuing cyclone-affected people in Gujarat.
