Roofs were blown off houses and trees and electric poles uprooted, leaving thousands without power yesterday as a severe cyclone made landfall and rain lashed the coasts of India and Pakistan.
At least two people died in India’s western state of Gujarat after being swept away by flood waters just before the cyclone hit.
More than 180,000 people were evacuated in India and Pakistan in the past few days as authorities braced for the cyclone, named Biparjoy, which means “disaster” or “calamity” in the Bengali language.
Photo: AFP
It made landfall late on Thursday near Jakhau, a port in Gujarat that is close to the border with Pakistan, weather officials said.
Biparjoy had weakened to a cyclonic storm from a severe cyclonic storm yesterday morning, the Indian Metereological Department said, adding that its speed was reducing from 105kmh to 85kmh.
Wind speeds were likely to reduce further by the afternoon, it said.
Two men died while trying to prevent their cattle from being swept away during heavy rains and floods in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district on Thursday evening, the cyclone control room said.
Power was disrupted in many places in the Kutch district of Gujarat because of strong winds, said Amit Arora, a top district official overseeing rescue operations.
In neighboring Pakistan, the cyclone had no major impact, with rain reported in some parts of the southern city of Karachi, which was on high alert.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department advised local authorities to remain on alert for heavy rain in some coastal areas until today.
Local television showed visuals of uprooted trees, people sheltering against strong winds and debris lying on roads in the aftermath of the cyclone.
The government had told all offshore oil installations to ensure the immediate return of all staff to land, and advised ports to take preventive action.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS