Powerful Cyclone Biparjoy is expected to reach the India-Pakistan border on Thursday afternoon, where rescue teams have already managed to evacuate more than 146,000 people.
Cyclone Biparjoy, meaning “disaster” in Bengali, is advancing across the Arabian Sea towards the port of Jakhau, in India’s Gujarat state, and is expected to make landfall on the coast between southern Pakistan and western India this Thursday , according to meteorological services.
In India, more than 74,000 people have so far been evacuated in eight districts of the coastal state of Gujarat, according to information provided by the state’s head of government, Bhupendra Patel, on the social network Twitter after a meeting with emergency services on Wednesday night.
For its part, “more than 72,000 people have so far been evacuated from areas directly threatened by the cyclone,” said Murtaza Wahab, government spokesman for Sindh province, in the south, bordering India.
On Tuesday, Gujarat authorities said torrential rain and high winds as the cyclone approached killed three people, two of them children, while a wall collapsed and a woman was hit by a tree.
In 2021, the same region was hit by Cyclone Tauktae, which killed more than 150 people and caused significant damage.
Cyclones are a common threat on the north coast of the Indian Ocean, where tens of millions of people live.
According to scientists, these phenomena tend to become more violent with global warming.
Source: DN
