By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Thousands of people were evacuated from coastal areas of Sindh province on Tuesday as Cyclone Biparjoy moved closer to land, weakening into a very severe cyclonic storm from extreme but still packing winds of up to 170 km per hour (105 mph).
Cyclone Biparjoy, which formed on Monday, was expected to make landfall near the border of Sindh and Balochistan provinces on Wednesday.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department said the cyclone was likely to recurve northeastward and cross between Keti Bandar in Sindh and Indian Gujarat coast on Wednesday afternoon or evening, bringing heavy rain and storm surges to low-lying areas.
“Maximum sustained surface winds are 140-150 km/hour, gusts 170 km/hour around the system centre and sea conditions being phenomenal around the system center with maximum wave height [of] 30 feet,” the department said in an alert.
It warned of widespread wind-dust/thunderstorm rain with some very heavy/extremely heavy falls and squally winds of 80-100 km/hour gusting 120 km/hour in Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Tharparker, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot districts between June 13-17. Dust/thunderstorm-rain with few heavy falls and squally winds of 60-80 km/hour were also likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allayar, Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar districts from June 14-16.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said 26,855 people had been evacuated across the province, out of which 19,205 evacuations were conducted by the government while the remaining had voluntarily moved to safer locations.
“Desks have been set up by the health department at relief camps in vulnerable areas to prevent the spread of diseases,” he said during a Sindh Assembly session.
Climate Minister Sherry Rehman urged citizens to take the advisories issued by authorities seriously and not to take the cyclone casually.
She said Karachi was likely to face urban flooding given the scale and intensity of winds and precautionary evacuations in Seaview areas had begun. “We will keep you updated,” she said on Twitter.
Memon told the provincial assembly that some areas in Karachi, the country’s largest city and economic hub, were at risk of a cloudburst and that the popular Seaview beach had been cordoned off. He also said that more than 10,000 people had been evacuated from low-lying areas along the coast in Thatta, Badin and Sajawal districts, where many fishermen and farmers live in makeshift huts.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said in a statement that the evacuation process would continue until all the vulnerable populations were moved to safer places.
Shah said “more than 80,000 people are at risk” of being affected by the cyclone. “We are taking all-out measures to shift the people to secure areas and removing loose installations like billboards, sign boards, and such other weak structures to avoid any untoward incident.”
He appealed to the people to cooperate with the authorities and not to resist leaving their homes.
Energy Minister Khurram Dastagir said some power plants in the south-eastern parts of the country may go offline during the cyclone due to high winds and disruption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies.
He said the government was trying to minimise the impact on the power sector and ensure uninterrupted electricity for essential services.
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