Life in Pakistan returns to normal as cyclone Biparjoy dissipates

Life was returning to normal on Saturday along the Sindh coast after days of panic and preparations ahead of cyclone Biparjoy’s landfall in Pakistan.

The storm however struck India’s Gujarat on Thursday, but then weakened overnight sparing Sindh.

More than 180,000 people in Sindh and neighboring Indian state of Gujarat fled the path of Biparjoy — which means “disaster” in Bengali — before it made landfall.

Pakistan was largely spared of the storm’s effects and no lives were lost. However, water levels did increase in some coastal areas, Dawn news reported.

“Pakistan was prepared but largely spared the full force,” Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman tweeted on Friday morning. “Sindh’s coastal areas like Sujawal were inundated by high sea levels, but most people had been evacuated to safe ground.”

Biparjoy came ashore as a Category 1 cyclone at landfall after being Category 3 in the Arabian Sea. It weakened to a cyclonic storm and was expected to become a depression by Friday evening, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.

However, it advised fishermen to refrain from venturing out into the open sea until the system was over by Saturday (today).

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also said life was returning to normal in the areas along the country’s coastline as the danger posed by Biparjoy had been averted.