Cyclone Biparjoy slammed into the Indian coast with powerful winds, sowing fear and prompting evacuations, but began weakening in the early hours of Friday as it moved north. Indian forecasters had warned that Biparjoy, whose name means “disaster” in Bengali, was likely to devastate homes and tear down power lines as it barrels through the western state of Gujarat. The “very severe cyclonic storm” crossed the coastline near Jakhau Port Thursday evening, but started losing force several hours later and at 2:30 am (2230 GMT) on Friday was packing 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour winds with gusts up to 110 km/h, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said in the latest bulletin. “It would move northeastwards and weaken into a cyclonic storm by early morning of the 16th (of) June,” the bulletin read.

Earlier, weather officials had said that the cyclone was expected to move overnight into Pakistan’s Sindh province, home to the port megacity of Karachi. Low-lying roads started to flood on Thursday afternoon after hours of rain. Gusting winds blew sheets of water that reduced visibility with a dull grey mist. Almost all stores were closed, and shoppers had crowded the few that remained open to buy last-minute food and water supplies.

India’s meteorologists warned of the potential for “widespread damage”, including the destruction of crops, “bending or uprooting of power and communication poles” and disruption of railways and roads. The Gujarat state government said 94,000 people had relocated from coastal and low-lying areas to shelter. Pakistan’s climate change minister Sherry Rehman said around 82,000 people had been moved from southeastern coastal areas in the face of “a cyclone the likes of which Pakistan has never experienced.”

Many of the areas affected are the same inundated in last year’s catastrophic monsoon floods, which put a third of Pakistan under water, damaging two million homes and killing more than 1,700 people. “These are all results of climate change,” Rehman told reporters. Storm surges were expected to reach four metres (13 feet), with flooding possible in Karachi — home to about 20 million people.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP