India braces for Cyclone Biparjoy landfall, 4 teens dead in Mumbai, rescue ops on: Latest updates

The extremely severe cyclonic storm  Biparjoy weakened into a very severe cyclonic storm early on Tuesday (June 13). But it has wreaked considerable havoc along the coastlines of the East Central- Arabian Sea over the past couple of days and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for the Saurashtra and Kutch coasts of Gujarat..

Cyclone Biparjoy is likely to cross the Jakhau Port area by the evening of June 15. Till now, 8,000 people have been evacuated and moved to safer locations in Kutch.

Heavy rainfall warning has been issued for Gujarat in districts like Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagarh and Morbi.

Four drown in Mumbai

According to police reports, four teenagers of a group of eight, drowned after they broke entry restrictions set up by the Mumbai Police and entered Juhu Beach for a swim in the high waves caused due to the cyclone.

The other four managed to survive and come out safely, However, two out of the four survivors are yet to be found, the reason for which, as their parents suspect, is because they are scared. 

According to a recent report, one of the four bodies was found floating near the Juhu beach, which got recovered by the police upon recieving the information. This makes it the third body to be found of the four drowned, with one yet to come to light. 

The teenagers who drowned are identified as Jay Roshan Tajbariya, 15, Manish Yogesh Oganiya, 12, Shubham Yogesh Oganiya, 15, Dharmesh Valji Faujiya, 16, who were residents of Vakola’s Datta Mandir, Santacruz East. 

Due to a Biparjoy’s persistent trait of high tidal waves and strong rushes of wind , India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow alert over the areas of Mumbai and Thane on Monday, as a precautionary measure  to avoid any human fatalities. The group of eight teenagers snuck in from a BMC garden at Juhu Koliwada, disobeying police restrictions.

The search and rescue operations are still underway but the police are facing hindrance due to the severity of the weather and the high tidal waves. 

Another report of a human casualty due to Biparjoy came in with one death reported in Porbandar after a wall of a depleted house in the Palana Chowk area of the city, collapsed on the man. 

Biparjoy around India 

The cyclone has been cause of considerable amount of chaos and havoc around its route, with the people all over the stretch of the areas taking to social media to post the severity of Biparjoy.

What now for Biparjay?

Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a review meeting today on the preparedness against the cyclone in the virtual attendance of Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel and MPs from the likely affected districts in the state of state of Gujarat that have chances to be impacted by the cyclone. 

Mumbai