Weather Alert: Cyclone Biparjoy Brings Rain in Rajasthan, Several Areas Flooded; Shah Lauds Guj Rescue Ops

Weather News: As Cyclone Biparjoy’s weekend to form a deep depression, Rajasthan’s Barmer witnessed strong winds followed by rain on Sunday causing severe water logging and flood-like situation at various places.

Cyclone Biparjoy has weakened and is in the form of a deep depression, it entered Rajasthan on June 16 through the adjoining areas of Jalore and Barmer. It has further weakened and become a depression as of now and is moving towards a north-east direction,” said Radheshyam Sharma, Director, Meteorological Center, Jaipur

Parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are expected to receive rains in the coming days starting from Sunday courtesy of the remnant of cyclone Biparjoy, which will help the monsoon advance over east India. The region is currently reeling with severe heat waves

The monsoon’s progress has remained sluggish since May 11 in the absence of any weather system over the Bay of Bengal. While Cyclone Biparjoy also impacted the southwest monsoon current, little relief was noted over Northern states.

The conditions will be favourable for the advance of the monsoon over east India and some more parts of south India from June 18 to June 21, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told PTI.

Meanwhile, normalcy began to return to the coast and towns of Gujarat that were under the radar in view of Cyclone Biparjoy, with businesses, roads and other daily activities resuming on Saturday with no reported loss of lives. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was on a visit to the state, lauded it as a major achievement.

The home minister on Saturday conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas and met people admitted to the hospitals due to the cyclone. He also monitored the conditions of shelter homes designed especially for Cyclone Biparjoy rescue operations.

He also held a review meeting with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other senior officials deployed for the rescue and relief operations.

While addressing a post-meeting press conference, the minister said over one lakh civilians were moved to safety while more than 700 babies were delivered under the supervision of medical teams during the cyclone.

“We can express satisfaction that nobody has died in the cyclone that made landfall with a wind speed of 140 mph,” he said, adding that it was a “major achievement. Not only that, but the number of injured persons was only 47 and casualties of cattle were just 234,” Shah said.

Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau on the Kutch coast on Thursday evening, felling trees and electric poles and damaging houses.

The government’s priority now is the restoration of electricity, water supply and sending people who are in shelters back to their homes, the Union minister said.

Monsoon in India so far

The monsoon hit India on June 8 with its onset over Kerala, a week later than normal.

Some meteorologists attribute the “delayed” and “mild” monsoon onset over Kerala to the cyclone. However, the IMD thinks otherwise. The monsoon has so far covered the entire northeast, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and a few parts of Bihar and West Bengal.

(With PTI inputs)