Sindh residents brace for rains as storm system intensifies into Cyclone Asna

With a deep depression situated approximately 170 kilometres from Karachi on Friday, Pakistan’s coastal areas are bracing for rains as the storm system has intensified into Cyclone Asna over the northeast Arabian Sea along Sindh’s coast.

Zoom Earth’s live radar also denoted the system as a cyclonic storm with a speed of 65 kilometres per hour.

According to an alert from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) issued at 5:30pm today, a deep depression (a very strong low-pressure area) over India’s Rann of Kutch has moved westward during the last six hours and now lies around 170 kilometres east/southeast of Karachi.

It said the system was likely to “keep moving initially west/northwestwards” and under its influence, widespread rain/wind-thunderstorms with scattered heavy/very heavy and isolated extremely heavy falls were likely in Karachi division, Tharparker, Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Jamshoro, Dadu and Shaheed Benazirabad districts till Saturday.

Met officials have described the formation of a cyclone in the monsoon season as a “rare phenomenon”.

“It would be a rare event as cyclones are uncommon in the monsoon season,” Chief Meteorologist Dr Sardar Sarfaraz said earlier.

“There is an 80 per cent chance for a cyclonic storm’s formation when the deep depression would move from land to the sea and get favourable conditions.”

Sarfraz earlier said if the storm materialised it would be the first cyclone in the Arabian Sea in August since 1976 and would get the name ‘Asna’ suggested by Pakistan. He added that regional cyclones were assigned names according to a list prepared by a 13-country panel, including Pakistan.

India’s weather office said that the deep depression would move northwest over the Arabian Sea in the next two days.

The formation of a cyclonic storm over the Arabian Sea in August was a rare occurrence, the Indian Express newspaper reported, saying the last such storm was in 1964.

“Cyclone formation generally takes place over sea and then it moves over to land. This type of system is unusual because it formed over land and is now moving towards the sea,” Ashok Kumar Das, head of the Indian Meteorological Department in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, told Reuters.

Heavy rains expected over next 3 days

Under the weather system’s influence, the PMD has predicted widespread heavy rains in several districts of Sindh as well as those along the Balochistan coast.

“Widespread rain/wind-thunderstorms with scattered heavy/very heavy and isolated extremely heavy falls” are likely till August 31 in the Karachi division as well as Tharparkar, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Jamshoro, Dadu and Shaheed Benazirabad districts.

About the Balochistan coastline, the PMD predicted “widespread rain/wind-thunderstorm with scattered heavy/very heavy falls” in Hub, Lasbella, Awaran, Kech, and Gwadar districts from August 30 to September 1, with occasional gaps.

“Heavy rains may create water logging/rain inundation in low-lying areas of Sindh-Makran coast,” the Met Office warned.

It further said sea conditions were likely to remain rough/very rough with squally winds of 50-60km/hour gusting at 70km/hour.

The PMD advised fishermen in Sindh not to venture into the sea till August 31 and those in Balochistan till September 1.

Schools shut; death toll in India reaches 31

Meanwhile, schools in Karachi and Hyderabad as well as in parts of Kutch district in India’s Gujarat were shut, officials said, as heavy rain lashed both places.

Three more people died in Gujarat overnight from rain-related incidents, taking the toll to 31 this week, and authorities evacuated more than 8,700 people from ten districts in the state over the last 24 hours, officials said.

While the Karachi authorities had earlier decided to keep schools open on Thursday despite predictions from the Met Office, today’s closure was finally announced late last night.

In Hyderabad, Deputy Commissioner Zainul Abedin Memon announced the closure of all public and private schools across the district for today, according to a notification dated August 29.

Memon, also the chief of the district’s disaster management authority, said the decision was made in view of the “ensuing heavy monsoon rains” and the relevant alerts issued by the PMD.

Parts of Karachi received 147 millimetres of rain overnight, the local weather office said, and the city’s mayor, Murtaza Wahab, in a post on X, urged residents to avoid “unnecessary movement”.

Pakistani authorities warned of urban flooding and flash floods in rural areas due to the heavy rain, and urged citizens to stay indoors. Both countries warned fishermen against venturing out into the sea.

A ban on “fishermen venturing into the sea, as well as on swimming, bathing, diving, and wading in the sea/beaches and coastal areas” of Karachi Division had been imposed from Aug 29 till Aug 31 (Saturday).

Additional input from Mohammad Hussain Khan