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74,000 evacuated as Cyclone Biparjoy hours away from Gujarat coast
Cyclone Biparjoy is less than 200 kilometres from the Gujarat coast and its impending landfall this (15) evening, along with the anticipated heavy rain and storm surge, have led to the evacuation of 74,000 people living in vulnerable areas, authorities have said.
The administration has shifted people from nearly 120 villages located between zero and 10 km from the seashore in Kutch district.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Biparjoy is expected to make landfall near Jakhau port as a “very severe cyclonic storm” with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour. The IMD said that the intensity of rainfall will increase as the powerful weather system approaches the coast, with isolated places in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts likely to witness extremely heavy rainfall.
“VSCS Biparjoy over Northeast Arabian Sea at 0230 hours IST of 15th June, 2023 about 200 km west-southwest of Jakhau Port (Gujarat). To cross Saurashtra & Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi and Karachi near Jakhau Port by evening of 15th June as a VSVS,” IMD said in its latest update on the cyclone.
Gujarat health minister Rushikesh Patel said 72 villages are located between zero and 5 km from the coast in the Kutch district, while another 48 sit between 5 km and 10 km from the shore. “We have evacuated around 40,000 people from these coastal villages,” the minister said.
So far 74,345 people have been moved to temporary shelters in eight coastal districts of Kutch, Jamnagar, Morbi, Rajkot, Devbhumi Dwarka, Junagadh, Porbandar and Gir Somnath, the government has said.
As per the government, 15 teams of NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), 12 teams of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force), 115 teams of state road and building department, and 397 teams of the state electricity department have been deployed in different coastal districts. Apart from local administration and police, four teams of NDRF and five teams of SDRF, Army, Coast Guard and BSF (Border Security Force) are on standby for rescue and relief post-cyclone, he said.
Meanwhile, the famous Dwarkadhish temple in Devbhumi Dwarka and Somnath temple in Gir Somnath district will remain closed on Thursday for devotees and visitors, said an official release.
A storm surge of about 2-3 metres above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas of the districts that are likely to be affected due to the landfall. The tides could rise up to 3-6 metres in some places, the IMD has said.
This will be the second cyclone to hit the state in two years after ‘Tauktae’ in May 2021.
The Western Railway has said that 76 trains have been cancelled, 36 short-terminated and 31 short-originated as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of passengers and train operations.
(PTI)
The India and Zimbabwe women’s teams are all set to play an international fixture against each other for the first time when Zimbabwe tour India for white-ball fixtures this October.
The tour comprises three T20Is and three ODIs and will be Zimbabwe’s first visit to India; India are yet to tour Zimbabwe for bilateral fixtures.
The three T20Is will be played in Raipur on October 16, 18 and 20, and the ODIs are on October 23, 25 and 28 in Baroda.
The fixtures were announced by the BCCI on Wednesday, along with two home series for the India A women’s side against Australia A in September and England A in December. Both those series comprise three T20s, three List A games and one multi-day fixture.
The India Under-19 women’s team will also host Sri Lanka U-19 in June and July for three T20s and three 50-over games, and England U-19 in November and December for five T20 fixtures.
The Australia A men’s side will tour India for two multi-day fixtures and three one-dayers in September and October, while the Australia U-19 side will visit India for two multi-day fixtures and three one-dayers also in September and October.
[Cricinfo]
Oil prices have dropped and global stock markets have risen following reports that the US and Iran are close to a deal to end the war.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark oil price, fell to $97 (£73) a barrel after the reports before rebounding to over $101. The price was over $108 earlier in the day.
The FTSE 100 index of London’s largest public firms and Germany’s Dax index closed over 2% up while the French Cac 40 was up 3%. Asian indexes also ended the day higher while the US S&P 500 was up by more than 1% over the day.
The market movements come after Axios reported that the US believes it is close to a one-page document which will end the war and set up detailed nuclear talks.
Hours later, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson told Iranian Students’ News Agency that the US proposal to end the war with Iran was still being considered.
However, not long after that, Trump suggested a deal could still be a way off.
He said on Truth Social that any agreement by the Iranians is “a big assumption” and that a failure to come to a deal will result at bombardments “at a much higher level and intensity ” than was the case during Operation Epic Fury.
Oil prices are still much higher than the $70 a barrel they were hovering around before the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, which has caused caused production and transportation of oil in the region to slump.
Central to the conflict is Iran’s threat to attack oil ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway south of the country, in response to US-Israeli strikes since 28 February.
About a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually cross the strait, which has been effectively closed for weeks. Global gas prices have also soared since the conflict began.
As for stock markets, the big European bourses are lower than they were at the end of February, while the S&P 500 climbed by more than 1%.
The main Asian markets all rose on Wednesday, with the South Korean Kospi closing up 6.45%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng ending the day up 1.22%, and the Japanese Nikkei finishing 0.38% higher.
The Hang Seng is down since the start of war, but the other two are up.
[BBC]
Pakistan Women 343/4 in 50 overs (Sadaf Shamas 101, Gull Feroza 100, Sidra Amin 59; Christina Mutasa 1-19, Lindokuhle Mabhero 1-52, Olinder Chare 1-40, Nomvelo Sibanda 1-61) beat Zimbabwe Women 137 in 39 overs (Runyararo Pasipanodya 33*; Fatima Sana 3-15, Diana Baig 1-23, Momina Riasat 2-39, Rameem Shamim 2-20, Syed Aroob Shah 2-18) by 206 runs
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