With cyclone 'Biparjoy' inching closer to Gujarat to make landfall later on Thursday night, the state administration said it has so far shifted more than 94,000 persons living in eight coastal districts to temporary shelters.
Of the 94,427 persons evacuated so far, nearly 46,800 were evacuated in Kutch district, followed by 10,749 in Devbhumi Dwarka, 9,942 in Jamnagar, 9,243 in Morbi, 6,822 in Rajkot, 4,864 in Junagadh, 4,379 in Porbandar and 1,605 in Gir Somnath district, a Gujarat government release said.
"Those who were shifted to safer places include nearly 8,900 children, 1,131 pregnant women and 4,697 elderly persons. A total of 1,521 shelter homes have been set up in these eight districts. Medical teams are visiting the shelters at regular intervals," the release informed.
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Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel reached the State Emergency Operations Centre in Gandhinagar in the morning and held a meeting with top officials to review the situation as well as steps taken to provide relief to people, it said.
Citing the latest observations of the India Meteorological Department, state Commissioner of Relief Alok Kumar Pandey informed the CM that the speed at which the cyclone is moving towards Gujarat has come down.
As a result, it will make a landfall at around 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Thursday instead of evening with winds ranging between 115 kmph to 125 kmph, the release said.
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"To ensure continuous water supply in case of power outage, the state Water Supply department has put 25 generator sets on stand-by in Kutch, Dwarka and Jamnagar as well as five sets in Morbi," the release said.
The IMD has said cyclone 'Biparjoy' would make landfall near Jakhau port on Thursday as a 'very severe cyclonic storm'.
