Amid Biparjoy, 274 Women Gave Birth In Gujarat Hospitals

Cyclone Biparjoy, meaning calamity, has brought joy to around 300 families of coastal Gujarat. Around 270 pregnant women moved to various hospitals as precautionary measures ahead the cyclone, have safety given birth, Kutch district magistrate Amit Arora has told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

"We admitted 512 ladies to sub-district hospitals. Of them, 274 have safely given birth and have gone home. The rest are still admitted," Mr Arora said.

The women were moved to hospitals two days ago, once evacuations started ahead of the cyclone, which made landfall this evening.

The state government has evacuated more than 94,000 people from across eight districts that are likely to be affected by the cyclone. Among those evacuated were more than 8,900 children and over 1,100 pregnant women, the government said in a statement this evening.

Teams of rescue workers, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force , road and building department and electricity department are on stand-by to handle the fallout of the cyclone and any unforeseen circumstance.

The Army, Navy and the Coast Guard are also ready for action.

The government is keeping watch on the trajectory of the cyclone to prevent loss of life and damage to property.

The cyclone, whose centre will shortly reach land, is likely to move northeastwards and cross Saurashtra, Kutch and into adjoining Pakistan. It will cross the coastline between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near Jakhau Port (Gujarat), the met office said.