KARACHI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has warned of torrential rains across Sindh and several Balochistan’s districts that might generate urban flooding in coastal towns and districts including Karachi.
According to an advisory released by the Met department’s tropical cyclone warning centre, a low-pressure system, currently lying over south Gujarat, India, is likely to move northwestward. The cyclonic storm might hit the country on October 1 — two days from now.
“The system is likely to re-emerge over the northeast Arabian Sea by Wednesday night/Thursday morning and regain intensity due to favourable environmental conditions,” the advisory added.
Under the system’s influence, widespread rain-wind-thunderstorms with scattered heavy/very heavy falls, extremely heavy at times, are likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Thaparkar, Umerkot, Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushehro Feroze, Tando Mohamad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Dadu, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Larkana, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts during Sep 28 and Oct 2.
“Widespread rain-wind-thunderstorms with scattered heavy/very heavy falls, extremely heavy at times, are likely in Bela, Awaran, Kech, Makran and Panjgur districts of Balochistan between Sep 30 and Oct 3,” it added.
The districts likely to face urban flooding due to heavy downpour are Karachi, Badin, Thatta, Hyderabad, Dadu, Lasbela, Sonmiani, Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar, Turbat and Jiwani.
The PMD further predicts that sea levels may rise from September 30 to October. During this period, fishermen should avoid going into the open sea for fishing, it advised, asking all authorities concerned to remain alert during the forecast period.
It might be recalled that cyclone Gulab developed over the Bay of Bengal a few days back and had landfall in the Indian coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
