Authorities in Pakistan have begun efforts to evacuate more than 80,000 people away from an approaching cyclone that could hit southern parts of Sindh province and the Indian state of Gujarat, officials say.
The cyclone, dubbed Biparjoy, is expected to make landfall between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan on Thursday afternoon with maximum sustained winds of 125 to 135 kilometers per hour (78 to 84 miles per hour) with gusts of up to 150 km/h (93 mph), according to officials in both countries.
Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah said on Monday an emergency has been declared and the army has been deployed to help move “more than 80,000 people” at risk.
“We will not ask people, but demand that they be evacuated,” Shah told reporters, adding that the order was issued through social media, mosques and radio stations.
A Shah spokesman said about 2,000 people have already been evacuated from the area of Shah Bandar, a fishing village nestled among mangrove deltas 45 km (28 mi) west of Gujarat.
India’s Meteorological Department has advised fishing communities to halt operations and evacuate people in Gujarat’s Saurashtra and Kutch coastal areas.
Cyclone Warning for Saurashtra and Kutch Coast: orange message. ESCS BIPARJOY was today at 0830IST, about 320 km SW of Porbandar, 360 km SSW of Devbhumi Dwarka, 440 km S of Jakhau Port, 440 km SSW of Naliya. Crossing near the port of Jakhau (Gujarat) by the afternoon of 15 June as VSCS. pic.twitter.com/8gHGLHt1XP
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) June 12, 2023
Two of India’s largest ports – Mundra and Kandla – are located in the Gulf of Kutch, which is in the path of the storm, while the Jamnagar oil refinery, the largest in the world, is located in the Saurashtra region.
Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd said in a grant application on Monday that operations at Pipavav Port had been suspended since late Saturday due to “predominant severe weather conditions”.
Seven teams from India’s National Disaster Response Force and 12 teams from the State Disaster Response Force have been deployed to the districts likely to be hit by the cyclone, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said in a tweet.
Nearly a dozen districts on Gujarat’s coast are expected to be hit by heavy rainfall and strong winds, though some districts are sparsely populated, which would limit damage, said a weather official who declined to be named.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: High tidal waves observed in Mumbai as cyclone #Biparjoy intensified into a severe cyclonic storm.
(images from Gateway of India) pic.twitter.com/UrnR0sahtE
— ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2023
Mud and straw houses most vulnerable to destruction
In Pakistan, coastal communities in Sindh province are predicted to receive 30 cm (12 in) of rain and face storm surges of up to 3.5 meters (12 ft) high, potentially inundating low-lying settlements.
Sindh is the second most populous province in the country.
The National Disaster Management Authority said instructions were being issued for those in the southern parts of the country likely to be affected.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned that traditional mud and straw houses, housing Pakistan’s poorest, will be vulnerable to disintegration.
But in the Haji Ibrahim settlement near a cluster of such structures, fisherman Abu Bakar said concerns about losing their livelihoods prevailed.
“Our boat, goats and camels are our assets,” said the 20-year-old. “We cannot compromise on their safety.”
“But if danger threatens, we will be forced to leave to save our lives,” he admitted.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest and most populous city, will also be engulfed in dust and thunderstorms with gusts of up to 80 km/h.
Billboards are removed and 70 vulnerable buildings in the city are evacuated, while construction in the affected area is halted.
‘Detrimental effects of climate change’
Heavy rain and strong winds late Saturday in northwest Pakistan killed 27 people, including eight children.
“These are undoubtedly the adverse effects of climate change,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Twitter on Sunday.
The strongest cyclone to hit Pakistan was the 1999 Keti Bandar, a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It resulted in the deaths of 6,200 people in Sindh’s impoverished Thatta district, where Biparjoy is also likely to strike.
In the Indian state of Gujarat, a 1998 cyclone killed at least 4,000 people and caused damage estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
Biparjoy delayed the onset of the annual monsoon over the southern state of Kerala, but now conditions are favorable for the progress of much-needed rains in parts of the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the weather bureau said.