Cyclone Biparjoy near Gujarat coast, parts of Saurashtra-Kutch region receive heavy rainfall

With cyclone Biparjoy approaching the Gujarat coast, parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region received heavy rains accompanied by strong winds, the Met department said on Wednesday. In the 24 hours ending Wednesday morning, 54 talukas across the districts of Saurashtra and Kutch received more than 10 mm of rainfall, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said in a release. The rainfall was more intense in the districts of Devbhumi Dwarka, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar and Junagadh. Khambhaliya taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka district received the highest 121 mm of rain, followed by Dwarka (92 mm) and Kalyanpur (70 mm) during this period, the SEOC said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a bulletin that the intensity of rainfall would increase as the cyclone approaches the Gujarat coast on June 15, with isolated places in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar likely to witness extremely heavy rains. Cyclone Biparjoy is very likely to cross Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near Jakhau port (Gujarat) by the evening of June 15 as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 125-135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph, it said. Due to this, a few places in Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi, Junagadh and remaining districts of Saurashtra and North Gujarat region are also likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall on Thursday.

The IMD has also forecast light to moderate rainfall with heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over north Gujarat districts and adjoining south Rajasthan on Friday. Wind speeds will reach 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph along and off the coasts of the districts of Porbandar and Devbhoomi Dwarka from Wednesday forenoon, the IMD said. They will gradually increase to 125-135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph on Thursday along and off the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagarh and Morbi.

Sea condition is likely to be very rough till the evening of Wednesday along Saurashtra and Kutch coasts and high to phenomenal till the evening of Thursday before becoming normal, the IMD said. Storm surge of about 2-3 m above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas of the affected districts during the time of landfall. The tides could be up to 3-6 meters in different places, the Met department said.