Seven dead as cyclone barrels towards western India, Pakistan
AHMEDABAD: Four boys drowned in rough seas off the western Indian financial hub of Mumbai on Tuesday (Jun 13) as India and Pakistan began evacuating people from coastal areas, two days before a cyclone is expected to make landfall.
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-What measures have been taken to protect the coastal regions?
Classified as a very severe cyclonic storm, Biparjoy is expected to land around Thursday evening between Mandvi in India's Gujarat province and Karachi in southern Pakistan.
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-Where exactly is the cyclone expected to make landfall?
Meteorologists predict maximum sustained wind speeds of 125kmh to 135kmh, gusting to 150kmh.
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-What are the wind speeds expected during the cyclone?
"Four boys drowned at Juhu beach on Monday evening. So far, we have found the bodies of two, and the search is still ongoing to locate the remaining two," said a police official in Mumbai, India's western metropolis that is south of Gujarat.
High waves in the Arabian Sea, accompanied by a heavy downpour and gusting winds pounded Gujarat's coastal areas, uprooting trees and resulting in wall collapse that killed three people in Kutch and Rajkot districts of the state, authorities said.
Eight districts in coastal Gujarat are expected to be affected, the state government said. Fishing operations in the region have been suspended until Friday while schools have declared holidays.