By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Cyclone Biparjoy pounded the coasts of India and Pakistan with howling winds and heavy rain on Thursday evening, forcing more than 175,000 people to flee their homes and cutting power in some areas.
The storm, whose name means “disaster” in Bengali, made landfall near the Indian port of Jakhau in Gujarat state as a Category 1 cyclone with winds of up to 140 kph (87 mph), the Indian Meteorological Department said.
The landfall process of the ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ Biparjoy commenced at around 6.30pm along the coast of Saurashtra-Kutch, and was completed after midnight.
The eye of the cyclone, which was churning across the Arabian Sea for more than 10 days, was located around 20km southwest of Jakhau port, 120km northwest of Devbhumi Dwarka and 50 km west-southwest of Naliya, Indian media reported.
It was expected to weaken as it moved inland towards Pakistan’s Sindh province, where it was likely to reach the town of Keti Bandar early on Friday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.
The cyclone was also on track to become the longest-lived cyclone in the Arabian Sea, surpassing Kyarr in 2019, which lasted nine days and 15 hours.
In Gujarat, low-lying roads were flooded and some trees and electricity poles were uprooted by the gusty winds, Indian media reported.
A vast swathe of western India and neighbouring southern Pakistan that suffered deadly floods last year are facing the aftermath of a new deluge.
Both countries have evacuated over thousands of people from low-lying areas with the impact of the cyclone expected to continue for the next two to three days.
Biparjoy is this year’s first major storm threatening India and the first major disaster posing a threat to Pakistan after last year’s devastating floods killed 1,700 people.
Recent studies show cyclones in the Arabian Sea are getting stronger and wetter as the sea surface temperature increased by 1.2C to 1.4C in recent decades.
In Pakistan, Karachi and other coastal areas experienced light showers and strong winds, but were largely spared from major damage.
However, seawater entered some houses in Shah Bandar, a port town 200 km (124 miles) from Hyderabad, local media reported.
Climate minister Sherry Rehman warned people not to go out to see the storm or venture into the water. “All preparations are in place. Don’t panic,” she tweeted.
Malls and businesses along the coast of Karachi have been shut. Pakistan’s national carrier, PIA, has also implemented precautionary measures, including round-the-clock security to minimize potential hazards.
Fishermen have been advised to steer clear of the sea and hospitals are staffed with emergency personnel, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
Experts also say the storm is a symptom of the growing climate crisis.
A study published in 2021 by researchers at the Shenzhen Institute of Meteorological Innovation and the Chinese University of Hong Kong and published in Frontiers in Earth Science found that tropical cyclones in Asia could have double the destructive power by the end of the century, with scientists saying the human-made climate crisis is already making them stronger.
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