According to officials, more than 1,000 communities still lack electricity, despite the fact that the power supply has been restored in 3,580 of them.
Cyclone Biparjoy caused devastation in Gujarat on Thursday, uprooting trees and destroying a number of cars and homes with upto 22 people injured. The cyclone is expected to become a depression this evening over Rajasthan.
Biparjoy damages power grid
In the aftermath of its continued advance into the Saurashtra-Kutch region, Cyclone Biparjoy has left a path of devastation. Over 4,600 settlements have lost power as a result of the damage, which also includes 5,120 electricity poles. Even though there has been extensive damage, no one has died as of yet, according to the officials.
Over 1,000 villages are still without electricity, while for 3,580 villages electricity has been restored.
Although efforts are being made to restore power to the remaining settlements, bad weather is making the job more difficult. Due to damage and tree cutting, three state highways had to be closed. According to reports, a total of 581 trees were uprooted. Up to nine pucca and twenty kutcha homes were completely destroyed, while two pucca and 474 kutcha homes only sustained partial damage.
About Cyclone Biparjoy
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Biparjoy, which translates to “disaster” in Bengali, started making landfall at 6:30 p.m. in Gujarat, a state in western India, and was expected to move further inland over the night. The Pakistan Meteorological Department said that the landfall took place along Gujarat and the border area.
Following its landfall, approximately 600 trees were uprooted, and the damage caused traffic to stop moving on three state highways. The cyclone also caused damage to a number of homes.
The storm, according to officials, unleashed damaging winds of up to 140 kmph, relentless rains, uprooted trees and electricity poles, and allowed seawater to infiltrate low-lying settlements.
Heavy rains have hammered the whole Kutch area since the storm started making landfall at Jakhau Port at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday and the process lasted till 2.30 a.m., they claim.
The cyclone’s intensity decreased quickly after reaching landfall, going from “very severe” to “severe” in a matter of hours. According to officials, the cyclone has weakened into a cyclonic storm and is moving north-east.
Casualties caused by Biparjoy
Alok Kumar Pandey, the State Relief Commissioner, informed reporters in Gandhinagar that there had been no reports of human fatalities as a result of Cyclone Biparjoy to date. The absence of any documented human fatalities is the state’s greatest accomplishment, he claimed, adding that this was only achievable as a result of their combined efforts.
He asserted that more than a lakh people were transferred to safer regions prior to the cyclone’s landfall. When asked about a father and son goat-raising team who lost their lives on Thursday while attempting to free their goats that had become stranded in a flooded ravine in the Bhavnagar district, Pandey responded that since the district had not been affected by the cyclone, their deaths were not regarded as being related to the cyclone.
The state power company, Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited, suffered significant financial losses as a result of the storm, according to Pandey, and 5,120 electricity poles were damaged. These poles are currently being repaired.
The material so far has been primary in nature, according to Pandey, and it will be updated by this evening when the administrations of the impacted districts provide new information. Because of the persistently strong wind and persistently heavy rain in the cyclone’s epicentre, he said, it will take some time for data from Kutch to arrive.
This coordinated effort allowed the state to evacuate more than one lakh people from villages along the Arabian Sea to safe areas, making it one of the greatest numbers ever. Once the situation has eased, the local district authority will begin relocating residents who were relocated to safer areas, he added.
