Coastal towns and cities in Sindh braced for heavy rains on Friday and early Saturday but as cyclonic storm ‘Asna’ was 120km south of Karachi but the storm later moved away from the country’s financial hub after causing heavy rains.

“The cyclonic storm ‘ASNA’ over Central Arabian Sea continued to move further westward during past 6 hours and now lies at around Latitude 23.2 N & Longitude 63.8 E at a distance of about 370km southwest of Karachi, 250km southwest of Ormara and 260km south-southeast of Gwadar,” the the Pakistan Meteorological Department said in its update issued on Saturday at 9:36pm.

The system is likely to track further westwards till Sunday, then turn southwestward and weaken gradually.

Areas that may come under influence

• Rain-thundershowers with a few heavy falls and accompanied with squally winds (60 to 70km/hour) likely in Hub, Lasbella, Awaran, Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar, Jiwani, Turbat, Panjgur and surroundings till Sunday night.

• Heavy rains may create water logging in low lying areas of Makran coast.

• Sea conditions are likely to remain rough/very rough with squally winds of 60-70 Km/hour gusting 80Km/hour till 1 September.

• Fishermen of Balochistan are advised not to venture in open sea till September 1 night while those of Sindh can resume their activities from Sunday.

• PMD’s cyclone warning center, Karachi is closely monitoring the system and will issue the update accordingly. The concerned authorities are requested to keep them abreast through PMD advisory.

Thursday update

“The cyclonic storm ‘ASNA’, pronounced as As-Na, over northeast Arabian Sea off Sindh coast has moved westward during past 6 hours and now lies at around Latitude 23.8 N & Longitude 66.6 E at about 120km south of Karachi, 180 southwest of Thatta, 250km southeast of Ormara and 440km east-southeast of Gwadar,” the Pakistan Meteorological Department said in its update issued at 10:44pm.

“The system is likely keep moving initially west-northwestwards and then west-southwestwards.”

Heavy downpour began in the wee hours of Saturday and lashed Karachi for several hours before subsiding by 8am.

The cyclone moved away from the city.

Schools in Karachi and Hyderabad were shut on Friday, officials said, as heavy rain lashed these places.

Under its influence, the PMD said rain and thundershowers with few heavy falls and accompanied by squally winds (60 to 70km/hour gusting 80km/hour) likely in Karachi Division, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Matiari, Jamshoro and Dadu districts of Sindh till August 31 and in Hub, Lasbella, Awaran, Keach & Gwadar districts of Balochistan till September 1.

Heavy rains may create water logging in low-lying areas of Makran coast, the PMD said.

Widespread rain and wind thunderstorms with scattered heavy/very heavy falls were also likely in Hub, Lasbela, Awaran, Kech, and Gwadar districts from August 30 to September 1, 2024, with occasional gaps.

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Sea conditions

Sea conditions are likely to remain rough/very rough with squally winds of 60 to 70km/hour gusting 80km/hour. Fishermen of Sindh are advised not to venture into the sea till August 31 and those of Balochistan till September 1.

Windstorms may damage crops, loose structures, etc and thunderstorms increase the risk of lightning strikes.

Warning

• Electricity/other utility services may get disrupted.

• Fishermen of Sindh are advised not to venture into the sea till August 31 and those from Balochistan till September 1.

• General public is advised to avoid visiting the seaside and beach areas and remain cautious of loose structures like billboards, electrical poles, solar panels and hoardings.

• The public is also advised to stay informed by keeping track of weather updates and alerts.

Rains expected over next three days

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,” the PMD said.

About the Balochistan coastline, the PMD forecasted “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.

India

India’s weather office said a deep depression had formed over land and was likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by Friday evening, moving north-westwards over the Arabian Sea in the next two days.

A cyclonic storm during August is a rare occurrence with this one being the first in decades, data from India’s weather office showed.

“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.

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.

“There is severe water logging in several places in Kutch district due to heavy rains over the last couple of days. We evacuated people from coastal areas and shifted them to schools and other facilities,” district collector of the Kutch district, Amit Arora, said.

Both Das and Arora said the effect of the cyclonic storm was likely to lessen in Gujarat as the storm moves from land to sea.

“Wind speeds have fallen to 40-50 kmph,” Arora said.

(With input from Reuters)