AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) – Roofs were blown off houses and trees and electric poles uprooted in several parts of India’s western state of Gujarat as a severe cyclone made landfall overnight and heavy rain continued to lash the coast early on Friday.
No casualties were reported.
More than 180,000 people were evacuated in India and Pakistan in the last few days as authorities braced for the cyclone, named Biparjoy, to hit coasts in both countries.
Biparjoy, which means ‘disaster’ or ‘calamity’ in the Bengali language, made landfall near Jakhau, a port in Gujarat that is close to the border with Pakistan, weather officials said.
India’s weather department warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Gujarat and the neighbouring state of Rajasthan through Friday. Pakistan’s weather department said moderate to heavy rain was expected in the Hyderabad, Nooriabad and Thatta regions.
Biparjoy weakened after hitting land with a wind speed of 105 km per hour (65.24 miles per hour) to 115 kmph (136.7 mph) Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general at the India Meteorological Department said on Friday.
Local television showed visuals of uprooted trees, people sheltering against strong winds and debris lying on roads in the aftermath of the cyclone.
Biparjoy was classified as a category one storm, the least severe on a scale of one to five.
(Reporting by Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
