More than 40 000 people have fled their homes in India and Pakistan as Cyclone Biparjoy approaches over the Arabian Sea, with authorities advising that gales of up to 150km/h might hit the two states’ highly populated coasts.
Biparjoy, which translates to “disaster” in Bengali, is expected to make landfall as a “very severe cyclonic storm”, according to official weather forecasters.
Rains and storms ahead of its approach have already killed seven people, including numerous children, in India's states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The storm is expected to reach the Indian port of Jakhau on Thursday evening, according to India's Meteorological Department.
Cyclone Tauktae struck much of the same region in 2021, killing 174 people, a comparatively low number thanks to robust preparations prior to impact. However, a storm in Gujarat in 1998 killed at least 4 000 people.
Cyclone Biparjoy comes on the heels of disastrous floods that struck Pakistan last year, killing 1 739 people.
Gujarat officials claimed they had evacuated at least 20 000 people from coastal areas, while authorities in Pakistan’s south-western Sindh province said they had evacuated about the same number.
According to Pakistan’s army and civil officials, 80 000 people would be evacuated in all.
Fishing has been banned throughout Gujarat’s coast, where authorities estimate that the storm will affect up to 1.6 million people.
Authorities also prohibited gatherings near the beaches and shorelines. As a precaution, all ports, including two of India’s largest, Mundra and Kandla, have been closed.
Two children perished in Gujarat when a wall fell, while a woman was killed when she was hit by a falling tree while riding her motorcycle. In neighbouring Maharashtra state, four youngsters allegedly drowned in heavy waves outside the western Indian financial metropolis of Mumbai.
Scientists have cautioned that as the climate warms due to human activities, the strength of tropical storms will rise.
According to 2019 research by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Indian Ocean has seen the fastest sea surface warming since the 1950s.
This implies that cyclones that have always presented a huge threat to the tens of millions of people who live on the northern Indian Ocean’s coast are likely to become more severe, making preparedness even more critical.
IOL