Authorities in Pakistan have begun efforts to evacuate more than 80,000 people out of the path of an approaching cyclone that could hit the southern parts of Sindh province and India’s Gujarat state, officials say.
The cyclone, named Biparjoy, is expected to make landfall on Thursday afternoon between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan with a maximum sustained wind speed of 125 to 135 kilometres per hour (78 to 84 miles per hour) with gusts up to 150km/h (93mph), according to officials in both countries.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said on Monday that an emergency has been declared and the army deployed to help relocate “more than 80,000 people” at risk.
“We will not request people but demand them to evacuate,” Shah told reporters, adding that the order was being issued through social media, mosques and radio stations.
A spokesman for Shah said about 2,000 people have already been evacuated from the area of Shah Bandar, a fishing town nestled among mangrove deltas 45km (28 miles) west of Gujarat.
The India Meteorological Department has advised fishing communities to halt operations and people in the Saurashtra and Kutch coastal areas of Gujarat to evacuate.
Two of India’s biggest ports – Mundra and Kandla – are in the Gulf of Kutch, which is in the path of the storm, while the Jamnagar oil refinery, the world’s biggest, is in the Saurashtra region.
Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd said in a stock exchange filing on Monday that operations at its Pipavav Port had been suspended since late Saturday due to “prevailing severe weather conditions”.
Seven teams of India’s National Disaster Response Force and 12 teams of the State Disaster Response Force have been deployed in the districts likely to be affected by the cyclone, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said in a tweet.
Nearly a dozen districts in coastal Gujarat are expected to be affected by heavy rainfall and high winds although some of the districts are sparsely populated, which would limit the damage, said a weather official who declined to be named.
In Pakistan, coastal communities in Sindh province are forecast to receive 30cm (12 inches) of rain and suffer storm surges up to 3.5 metres (12 feet) high, which could inundate low-lying settlements.
Sindh is the second most populated province in the country.
The National Disaster Management Authority said instructions were being given for those in southern parts of the country who are likely to be affected.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned that traditional mud and straw homes, which house the poorest in Pakistan, will be vulnerable to disintegration.