AHMEDABAD: After wreaking havoc in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat, Cyclone Biparjoy has weakened and headed towards south Rajasthan. Following the devastation caused by the cyclone, the immediate challenge before the Gujarat government is to restore power supply to around 1,000 villages and clear the roads of fallen trees. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department has said that heavy rains are expected in North Gujarat.
A press release quoted Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel as saying that due to advance planning and evacuation of over one lakh people to safer places, no one died. While 1,127 teams are working in Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Morbi, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Rajkot, and Porbandar districts to restore power supply, the forest department has removed 581 trees that have fallen on roads, the release said.
Earlier, State Relief Commissioner Alok Kumar Pandey had told reporters, “There is no report of loss of life in the state due to cyclonic storm Biparjoy.” This is the biggest achievement for the state. This was made possible by our combined efforts. The release said that of the 1,09,000 people evacuated from coastal areas to safer places, 10,918 were children, 5,070 were senior citizens and 1,152 were pregnant women. Due to strong winds and heavy rains due to cyclonic storm ‘Biparjoy’, there has been heavy destruction in the areas of Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat. Hundreds of electric poles were damaged by the storm. Biparjoy means disaster in the Bengali language.
The approach of the cyclonic storm near Jakhou port started around 6.30 pm on Thursday and continued till 2.30 am on Friday. During this, the entire Kutch district received heavy rains. The cyclone caused winds of up to 140 kilometers per hour and heavy rains that uprooted a large number of trees and electric poles, and seawater flooded low-lying villages.
He said the state power company Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited suffered heavy losses and 5,120 electric poles were damaged by the storm. He said that at least 4,600 villages were without electricity but power supply has been restored in 3,580 villages. The State Emergency Operation Center said that due to the cyclone, many parts of Kutch, as well as Devbhoomi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Rajkot, and Morbi districts, received very heavy rainfall (100-185 mm) on Friday. Along with this, strong winds blew at a speed of 95 kmph.
At least 600 trees were uprooted and traffic on three state highways was disrupted due to damage and fallen trees, officials said. At least 23 people were injured in incidents related to the cyclonic storm, while several houses were also damaged. A man and his son died while rescuing their goats stuck in an overflowing drain in Bhavnagar on Thursday amid heavy rains, he said, adding that since the cyclone did not affect the district, the deaths were minor. Cyclone-related incidents were not counted.
“Three state highways were closed due to vandalism and falling of trees. As per reports, a total of 581 trees have been uprooted. Nine pucca and 20 kutcha houses have been damaged, while two pucca and 474 kutcha houses have suffered partial damage. The official said that 65 shanties have been destroyed, adding that the government is preparing an order to give compensation to those who have suffered losses in the cyclone. Around 25 kutcha houses were damaged in Kacha village near Mandvi. Village sarpanch Rakesh Gaur said we have had no electricity since yesterday. But there has been no untoward incident in the village.
In our shelter homes, we have kept 400 people from different villages for the last four days, he said. About 30 trees and 20 electric poles were uprooted in Mandvi town. Abdul Hussain, a resident of Mandvi, said, we have had no electricity since 4 pm yesterday. The roofs of our houses were blown away and the houses were flooded.
As the cyclone moves further into the state, officials in the districts of Banaskantha and Patan are evacuating people living in low-lying areas to safer places as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in the two districts. has estimated.
Relief Commissioner Pandey said that more than one lakh people were evacuated to safer places and this was one of the biggest such operations in the history of the state. With the improvement in the situation, they will now be sent back, he said. Banaskantha District Magistrate Varun Baranwal said that over 2,500 people have been shifted to safer places and more people are being evacuated from low-lying areas. We have kept 25,000 food packets ready, he said.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General Atul Karwal told reporters in Delhi on Friday that there was no loss of life after Cyclone Biparjoy hit Gujarat. The Director General of NDRF said that at least one thousand villages in the state are facing a power crisis. Of these, 40 percent power crisis is in Kutch district alone.
