Cyclone Biparjoy fuelled by unusually warm sea waters and a nine-day journey over the Arabian Sea slammed into Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat and Sindh in Pakistan on Thursday evening, bringing devastating winds, tidal waves and heavy rain across multiple coastal districts.

The cyclone’s front wall cloud — a region marked by its fiercest winds — began rolling over the Saurashtra and Kutch coasts around 6.30pm and the complete landfall was expected to last until midnight, weather scientists said.

“The most dangerous phase of the cyclone has started,” Mrutyunjaya Mohapatra, the director-general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in New Delhi, minutes after the start of landfall. “We expect this to last up to around midnight.”

The IMD’s 4pm bulletin on Thursday predicted that Biparjoy would bring 115kmph to 125kmph winds, cause storm-triggered tidal waves up to three metres above astronomical tide levels, and inundate low-lying areas in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar and Morbidistricts.

At least three people were injured in incidents of treefall in Devbhoomi Dwarka district, officials said. Many trees and electricity poles were uprooted near Jakhau and Mandvi towns in Kutch while tin sheets used in house construction were blown away. Until 7pm there had been no report of death, said Gujarat minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi.

The IMD also predicted widespread damage to standing crops, plantations and orchards, including “the blowing down of mango trees”.

“Of the 94,427 people evacuated so far, 46,800 were evacuated in Kutch district, followed by 10,749 in Devbhumi Dwarka, 9,942 in Jamnagar, 9,243 in Morbi, 6,822 in Rajkot, 4,864 in Junagadh, 4,379 in Porbandar and 1,605 in Gir Somnath district,” a state government release said.

Additional reporting by PTI