Cyclone Asna steers away from Karachi, but winds, heavy rains forecast remains for coastal areas
As Cyclone Asna on Saturday steered away from Pakistan’s coastline — lying about 230 kilometres away from Karachi — residents still braced for expected heavy rains brought by the weather system.
A deep depression (a very strong low-pressure area), which the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) warned on Thursday would bring widespread rainfall, intensified into Cyclone Asna on Friday.
According to a PMD alert issued at 1pm today, the cyclone over the northeast Arabian Sea off the Sindh coast has kept moving westwards during the past six hours and now lies at around about 230km southwest of Karachi, 180km south of Ormara and 300km southeast of Gwadar.
“It is likely to continue move west-southwestwards,” the Met Office added.
Under the cyclone’s influence, rain of light or moderate intensity with occasional gusty winds was likely today in Karachi Division as well as Sujawal, Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu and Kambar Shahdadkot districts while the weather would remain dry in the rest of Sindh.
In Balochistan, the PMD added, rain-thundershowers with few heavy or heavy falls accompanied by squally winds of around 55km/h were likely in Hub, Lasbela, Awaran, Kech and Gwadar districts till tomorrow night.
It advised fishermen in Sindh not to venture into the sea today and those in Balochistan to not do so till tomorrow.
According to an update on Zoom Earth at 8am — provided via the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) — Cyclone Asna was expected to minimally intensify to 85km/h in around 12 hours and in 24 hours, a weakening trend will start.
“Weakening to tropical depression strength is expected to occur in around two days,” the JTWC was quoted as saying.
‘Rare’ cyclone
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.
He said the cyclone would be the first 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.
Due to the forecast of heavy showers and urban flooding warnings, schools in Karachi and Hyderabad were shut on Friday.
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).
About two dozen people were killed on Friday across the country as heavy monsoon rains caused widespread devastation.
In Sindh, at least nine people lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Jamshoro, Dadu and Mirpurkhas districts on Friday. More than 30 people were injured as the deluge ruptured sewers, breached dykes and swept away countless mud houses.
In Balochistan, two persons were missing after 13 people were swept away in flash floods in Loralai, Qila Saifullah, Duki, Harnai and Jhal Magsi areas.
In the north, 13 of a family died when the roof of their home collapsed due to a landslide induced by incessant rainfall in Upper Dir.
Meanwhile, in India, where at least 31 people have died this weak from rain-related incidents, authorities evacuated more than 8,700 people from ten districts in the Gujarat state yesterday, officials said.