Cyclone Biparjoy diminished into a strong cyclonic storm on Friday after making landfall in Gujarat, leaving a path of damage throughout India. Pakistan was mostly spared.
After the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) downgraded the cyclone to a “severe cyclonic storm,” residents of Sindh’s coastal city of Keti can return home.
The Met Office’s latest statement stated that “The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS) ‘BIPARJOY’ over the northeast Arabian Sea after reaching the Indian Gujarat coast (near Jakhau port) has weakened into a Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS).
The notice stated that the system will diminish into a Cyclonic Storm (CS) by midday and a Depression by nightfall. Authorities said that Bengali catastrophe Biparjoy made landfall Thursday night.
Pakistan was ready but little used. “Sindh’s coastal areas, like Sujawal, were inundated by high sea levels, but most people had been evacuated to safe ground,” tweeted Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman.
The minister congratulated all authorities for a “stellar coordination effort”.
Cyclone Biparjoy devastated Kutch and Saurashtra, Gujarat.
She added the authorities will meet in the afternoon to discuss sending the affected back home.
The Sindh government evacuated 67,367 people from the three susceptible districts of Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin to 39 relief camps.
Thank God we survived the cyclone. However, returning individuals to Sujawal may take time. Rehman told Geo News.
Biparjoy blew apart roofs, uprooted trees, and flooded low-lying settlements with 140 kmph winds.
As Pakistan’s Karachi metropolis avoided a hurricane again, the “patron saint” controversy resurfaced.
“Some local people of Karachi and especially the devotees of Dargah Abdullah Shah Ghazi here believe that Karachi is spared from hurricanes due to the miracle of the sacred person buried here,” a media report said.
Dr. Mona Lisa, a Quaid-e-Azam University Earth Sciences professor, told the BBC that Karachi sits on the threshold of three plates—Indian, Eurasian, and Arabian—that block storms.