India, Pakistan brace for winds, flash flooding as Cyclone Biparjoy heads for evening landfall
CTV
A vast swath of western India and neighbouring southern Pakistan that suffered deadly floods last year are bracing for a new deluge as fast-approaching Cyclone Biparjoy whirls toward landfall Thursday.
A vast swath of western India and neighbouring southern Pakistan that suffered deadly floods last year are bracing for a new deluge as fast-approaching Cyclone Biparjoy whirls toward landfall Thursday.
Rain was falling and skies were darkening in western India and southern Pakistan along the Arabian Sea, where dusty storms were hampering the evacuation and rescue work. Authorities expect conditions to worsen for two or three days after the cyclone barrelled toward India's Gujarat.
"The landfall process will commence at 6 p.m. local time and continue till midnight," Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, chief of the India Meteorological Department told The Associated Press. In Pakistan, officials say the cyclone will hit in the south Thursday evening.
Officials from the two South Asian countries stood on high alert as the cyclone approached. It's expected to make landfall near Jakhau port in India's Kutch district and inundate the area. In Pakistan, Keti Bandar in the country's flood-ravaged southern Sindh province, also lies in Biparjoy's path.
The bazaars and beaches in Mandvi, India, usually a bustling coastal town known for its wooden boat-makers, were deserted Thursday under shutdown orders from the government. Heavy winds and rains uprooted some trees in the area. Local media reported that a pregnant woman was brought from Shiyalbet island in the Amreli district to shore and admitted to a hospital.
Amid dust storms and rain, visibly shocked displaced families were seen at relief camps in southern Pakistan. Among them was 82-year-old Bachai Bibi, who was evacuated from the Badin district in Sindh province. She said she has become homeless due to the cyclone.
Mohammad Ashraf, 35, said local officials helped him, his wife and three children escape from the Pakistani village of Sheikh in the storm zone to the relief centre.
