Thousands evacuated as cyclone threatens coastal areas

KARACHI.The Meteorological Department on Monday warned of more heavy rains in Sindh and Balochistan as a possible cyclone headed for Pakistan’s coastal areas.

The department issued an alert at 2:00pm on Monday warning that a tropical storm forming in the Arabian Sea, 150 kilometres south of Karachi, was likely to intensify into a cyclone within the next 12 hours. The associated storm surge is expected to be 10-15 feet along the Sindh coast and 20-25 feet along Balochistan’s coastline. Met office officials said the cyclone would not directly strike Karachi.

The Met Department forecast gusty winds of between 40-50 and 60-70 knots with scattered “heavy to very heavy” rainfall in Sindh, especially in southern Sindh and coastal areas. The cyclone also threatened the Balochistan coastal areas of Gwadar, Jiwani, Pasni, Ormara and Lasbela.

The met office added that hilly areas, especially in southern Balochistan, might experience flash floods. Officials in Balochistan said around 2,000 people had been evacuated to higher ground from areas along the Arabian Sea coast that were already inundated by rain.

Fishermen were advised to stay ashore until June 27 in Sindh and June 28 in Balochistan because of the likelihood of “extremely” rough seas. At least 10 fishermen have been missing since the weekend, officials said.

The met office said that Punjab, upper parts of NWFP and Kashmir were also likely to receive rain with thunderstorm and lightning during next 24 hours. It said this season’s monsoon was likely to bring more than normal rains in eastern Sindh, Balochistan, north and eastern Punjab.

Karachi is still reeling from a deadly thunderstorm that killed close to 230 people on Saturday, with parts of the city still without electricity or drinking water.

President Pervez Musharraf ordered local authorities to take “immediate steps to tackle the situation,” while Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the Sindh chief minister to deal with the problem of collapsed billboards on a “war-footing.” staff report/agencies