Biparjoy updates: Cyclone expected to make landfall at Keti Bandar tomorrow (June 15) at 11 am

Biporjoy cyclone is moving at a speed of 3 kilometers per hour towards the coastal areas of Pakistan and India

Cyclone named after a Bengali word, Biparjoy, meaning “disaster” is expected to make landfall at Keti Bandar in the Thatta district, tomorrow (June 15) at 11 am.

Sindh’s coastal areas of Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, and Tharparkar districts will be hit the hardest by the cyclone, while Biparjoy is moving away from Karachi.

Biparjoy Updates:

• Despite an increasingly harsh and unfavorable environment, Biparjoy has so far been able to maintain its intensity of Category 01/Very Severe cyclone.
• Storm’s distance from Karachi has increased and now it is 370km away from the port city
• High risk of coastal inundation in the areas near the coastline, including Karachi, Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin
• Karachi’s Hawkesbay has been cordoned off amid likely heavy rainfall
• Mass exodus as typhoon nears the coastal areas
• Commercial flight operations would be suspended as the cyclone drew closer
• Cyclone has forced the authorities to suspend small aircraft operations in the country

As per the alert issued by Pakistan Meteorological Department around 3:30 pm Wednesday, the cyclone was at a distance of about 370km south-southwest of Karachi, 355km south-southwest Thatta, and 290km south-southwest of Keti Bandar.

“Maximum sustained surface winds are 150-160km/hour, gusts 180km/hour around the system center, and sea conditions being phenomenal around the system center with maximum wave height [of] 30 feet,” the alert notified.

Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday said that as many as 66,000 people have been evacuated to safer places from Sindh’s coastal areas so far.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the open sea till the system is over by 17 June.