Hyderabad: The extremely severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy, which is making a steady advance towards east-central and adjoining northeast Arabian Sea, moved north-westwards with a speed of 07 Kmph in the afternoon on Monday, the latest bulletin from IMD said.
Gujarat has been placed on high alert, with an ‘orange alert’ for June 14, and a ‘red alert’ for June 15. According to the prediction, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim from June 12 to June 16, Assam and Meghalaya from June 14 to 16, Saurashtra and Kuth from June 14 to 16, the northeast region from June 12 to 16 while Kerala and Lakshadweep are likely to witness heavy rain on June 12. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclone is moving north-northeast and will cross Saurashtra and Kutch by Thursday noon, with winds going up to 125 to 135 kmph, and gusting to 150 kmph.
Authorities have moved NDRF which has pre-positioned 12 teams, which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipment. Another 15 teams are kept on standby. Indian Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief, search and rescue operations. Apart from this, Air Force and Engineer task force units of the Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment.
For better communication, surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out serial surveillance along the coast. Disaster Relief teams (DRTs) and Medical Teams (MTs) of Army, Navy and Coast Guard are also on standby. Along with this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also briefed about measures taken by the Gujarat government to deal with the cyclone. Review meetings with the district administration have been held at the level of Chief Minister and the entire state administration machinery is geared up to meet any exigency situation.
