`Wall cloud' region of cyclone Biparjoy touches Saurashtra, landfall by evening: IMD

The `wall cloud' region of cyclone Biparjoy touched the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat on Thursday evening as it headed for landfall near Jakhau port in the state's Kutch district, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The authorities have already shifted more than 94,000 persons in eight coastal districts of Gujarat to temporary shelters.

`Wall clouds' are clouds that drop below the regular storm cloud. They are a lowering of a solid deck of clouds and indicate the beginning phase of potential funnel clouds and tornado formation.

The landfall process will commence in the evening and carry on till midnight, the IMD said in its latest bulletin.

The cyclone lay 80 km west-southwest of Jakhau port and packed winds of 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph, it said.

The cyclone, which moved east-north eastward towards Gujarat coast with a speed of 12 kmph in the past six hours, will make landfall between Mandvi in Kutch district and Karachi in Pakistan near Jakhau port between Saurashtra-Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts, the IMD has said.