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India Braces for Cyclone Biparjoy

by VOA News

   India is bracing for a powerful cyclone.

   Biparjoy is likely to hit portions of the western state of Gujarat
   Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 125 to 135 kilometers per hour
   and gusting up to 150 kilometers per hour, the India Meteorological
   Department said Monday.

   India's Prime Minister is set to hold a meeting Monday about the impact
   of the cyclone.

   Biparjoy -- which means disaster or calamity in Bengali language -is an
   "extremely severe cyclonic storm" -- the second-highest category used
   by the Indian Meteorology Department to classify tropical storms.

   Northeastern India is also expected to experience heavy rain falls
   during the next five days.

   In addition, weather forecasters say heatwave conditions are likely
   over parts of northwestern, eastern and northern peninsular India over
   the next three to five days.