Pakistan’s Sindh braces for impact as Arabian Sea weather system intensifies into Cyclone ASNA

Children play, with the rainbow and rain clouds in the background, following reports from the Pakistan Meteorological Department of a potential cyclonic storm that could develop over the Arabian Sea, at Clifton Beach in Karachi, Pakistan on August 30, 2024. (REUTERS)

• Authorities say heavy rains may inundate low-lying areas of Sindh-Makran coast, sea conditions are likely to remain rough
• Rains triggered flash floods in the provincial capital of Karachi, causing power outages and prompting closure of schools

KARACHI: A deep depression brewing in the Arabian Sea has intensified into a cyclonic storm, ASNA, and may impact Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said Friday evening, with provincial authorities shutting schools and taking other precautionary measures.
The weather system, which developed over India’s Rann of Kutch coast and the adjoining northeast Arabian Sea, moved westward in the last six hours and intensified into a cyclonic storm, according to the PMD.
It lied at about 170 kilometers south-southeast of Karachi at a latitude of 23.5°N and a longitude of 67.9°E, and was likely to keep moving west-northwestwards.
“Under its influence, widespread rain/wind-thunderstorms with scattered heavy/very heavy and isolated extremely heavy falls likely in Karachi division, Tharparker, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Jamshoro, Dadu & Shaheed Benazirabad districts till 31st August,” the PMD said in its latest alert on Friday evening.
It said heavy rains could inundate low-lying areas of Sindh-Makran coast and sea conditions were likely to remain rough, with squally winds of 60-70 km/hour gusting at 80km/hour.
“Fishermen are advised not to venture into sea till 31st August,” the PMD added.
Heavy rains triggered flash floods in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, causing power outages, media reported. Schools were closed in the city on Friday in anticipation of unusually heavy showers.
Pakistani authorities have also warned of flash floods in multiple districts of the Sindh province, which is still recovering from the massive floods of 2022 which inundated large swathes of the country and damaged the economy.
Pakistan’s National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) on Thursday warned of heavy rains and thunderstorms in parts of the Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan provinces in the next 72 hours, with nearly 250 killed in rain disasters since July 1.
Pakistan is recognized as one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change effects. This year, the South Asian country recorded its “wettest April since 1961,” with 59.3 millimeters of rainfall, while some areas of the country faced deadly heat waves in May and June.
In 2022, unusually heavy rains triggered floods in many parts of the country, killing over 1,700 people, inflicting economic losses of around $30 billion, and affecting at least 30 million people.