The Indian state of Gujarat closed its beaches on Sunday as the severe storm Biparjoy approached its coasts. State authorities also urged people living along the coast to move to safer ground.
Last week, the state department reached out to fishermen's communities and asked them to avoid going out to the sea until they received further instructions.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) also issued a yellow cyclonic alert for the state's Saurashtra and Kutch coasts.
"The extremely severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy reaches over east-central Arabian Sea, moving towards the northeast with a speed of 8 km/h during past 6 hours, near latitude 18.2°N and longitude 67.7°E, about 550 km west of Mumbai, 450 km south-southwest of Porbandar, 490 km south-southwest of Devbhumi Dwarka, 570 km south-southwest of Naliya and 750 km south of Karachi (Pakistan)," the IMD said.
"The cyclone is very likely to move to the north till the morning of June, 14, then move to the northeast and cross Saurashtra and Kutch and bordering Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) around noon of the 15th of June. Maximum sustained wind speed will possibly be 125-135 km/h gusting to 150 km/h," the IMD further added.
The weather department issued alerts for very heavy rains in the regions of Gujarat and Pakistan's Karachi.