India, Pakistan brace for winds, flash flooding as Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall

By AJIT SOLANKI, SIBI ARASU and MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

MANDVI, India (AP) — Cyclone Biparjoy has made landfall and officials say a vast swath of western India and neighboring southern Pakistan are likely to face flash flooding, heavy rain and high winds. The cyclone was bearing down on the two countries on Thursday from the Arabian Sea. It is expected to inundate many areas near Jakhau port in the Kutch district of India’s Gujarat state, and also in Keti Bandar in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province. Authorities in the two South Asian countries were on high alert. Mandvi, usually a bustling coastal Indian town known for its wooden boat-makersm, was shut down on government orders. Pakistan’s climate minister revised previous predictions and said Karachi, the country’s most populous city, was now out of the storm’s path.