Thousands evacuated as cyclone approaches India-Pakistan coast

People wade through waist-high waters that partly submerged vehicles and roads in parts of the state

ISLAMABAD/ AHMEDABAD:

Heavy rains battered India and Pakistan's coastal areas along the Arabian Sea, flooding cities in western India's Gujarat state and forcing thousands of people from their homes, with authorities predicting a cyclonic storm to develop by Friday.

People waded through waist-high waters that partly submerged vehicles and roads in parts of the state, visuals from Reuters television showed.

At least 28 people have died this week from rain-related incidents in the state, officials said, as meteorologists in India and neighbouring Pakistan warned that more heavy downpours and strong winds were expected to lash the coast.

"There is no electricity for the last two days," said Prabhu Ram Soni, who lives in Gujarat's coastal city of Jamnagar. "I have an eight-month-old daughter and an asthma patient, my mother, who is on oxygen support."

More than 18,000 have been evacuated since Sunday from cities near the coast, disaster management authorities said. The army was also involved in relief efforts in the state which was hit in last year by cyclone Biparjoy, damaging infrastructure and leading to the evacuation of more than 180,000 people.

Heavy rains also lashed Jamnagar, home to the world's largest oil refinery complex, owned by Reliance, the district collector, B K Pandya, told Reuters.

At nearby Vadinar, Nayara Energy, backed by Russian groups including its largest oil producer, Rosneft, runs another refinery.

"They are operational," Pandya said, when asked if rain had affected work in the refineries, adding that authorities were focusing on rescue efforts in the district.

A deep depression off Gujarat is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm by Friday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, but it was forecast to move away from the Indian coast over the next two days.

In Pakistan, the weather department warned fishermen to not venture into the sea until Saturday.

The IMD has forecast extremely heavy rainfall in Gujarat's Bharuch, Kutch and Saurashtra districts on Friday.

Rain also triggered flash floods in the neighbouring Pakistani port city of Karachi, causing power outages, media reported.

Pakistani authorities have also warned of flash floods in two districts of the southern province of Sindh, which is still recovering from the massive floods of 2022 which inundated large swathes of the country and damaged the economy.