AHMEDABAD, India/KARACHI: Roofs were blown off houses and trees and electric poles uprooted, leaving thousands without power as a severe cyclone made landfall and rain lashed both the Indian and Pakistani coasts early on Friday.
At least two people died in India’s western state of Gujarat after being swept away by flood waters just before the cyclone hit.
More than 180,000 people were evacuated in India and Pakistan in the last few days as authorities braced for the cyclone, named Biparjoy, which means ‘disaster’ or ‘calamity’ in the Bengali language.
Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall in India’s Gujarat coast near Pakistan
It made landfall late on Thursday near Jakhau, a port in Gujarat that is close to the border with Pakistan, weather officials said.
Biparjoy had weakened to a cyclonic storm from a severe cyclonic storm on Friday morning, India’s Metereological Department said in its latest bulletin, with speeds going down from 105 km (65.24 miles) to 85 km (52.82 miles). Wind speeds are likely to reduce further by afternoon, the bulletin said.
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