KARACHI: At least four people, including a child, were killed as dust storms and rain hit different parts of Karachi on Tuesday despite the Met Office saying that Cyclone Tauktae would not make landfall on Pakistan’s coastal belt.
According to details, a child was killed when a wall collapsed in the Sher Shah area, while two other people were also killed in rain-related incidents.
On the other hand, the weather in Karachi became pleasant after strong winds and rainfall in different parts of the city. Rainfall was recorded in Sarjani Town, Shahrah-e-Faisal, II Chandigarh Road, Kemrai and in the airport areas.
Due to rain, severe traffic jams were observed in different parts of the city. Many areas of Karachi were left without electricity due to the severe weather conditions including Sohrab Goth, Safora, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Johar.
Sardar Sarfaraz of the Met Department told a local news outlet that the dust storm was caused due to the influence of the cyclone system being in southern Pakistan’s vicinity combined with local weather conditions.
He said that Karachi could experience gusty winds again until the cyclone system is out of the region.
Sarfaraz noted that the city’s temperature had fallen by 7-8 degrees soon after the dust storm, saying it was likely to drop further as the weather normalises.
Two days ago, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had confirmed that cyclone Tauktae would not make landfall on the coastal belt of the country.
Sarfraz had said that the cyclone would pass by without touching the coastal belt of the country. He, however, said that the cyclone would have an impact in the form of rains with strong winds in the districts of Thatta, Tharparkar, Badin, Mirpur Khas and Umer Kot. He said that the rains will be of moderate level.
Sarfraz had said that dusty winds were blowing in Karachi and the temperature of the city would also likely go up due to the cyclonic activity in the Arabian Sea.
The authority had said in its advisory, “Severe Cyclonic Storm Tauktae intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS), [and] moved further north-westward at a speed of 15 kilometres during the last 12 hours.” The PMD had said that the cyclone was at a distance of about 1,210 km south-southeast of Karachi.
“[In view of the] prevailing environmental and meteorological conditions, dust/thunderstorm-rain with few moderate to heavy falls with gusty winds of 60-80 Kmph are likely to occur in Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot & Sanghar districts during 17- 19 May 2021.”
“The system is likely to move further north-westward and reach Indian Gujarat by 18th May morning,’” it had said in an advisory.
According to the authority, Karachi, Hyderabad and Nawabshah districts were likely to experience hot to very hot weather with gusty winds, blowing dust during the next two days.
“Sea conditions will remain rough to very rough and fishermen are advised not to venture in the sea till 19 May 2021,” it maintained.
The cyclone’s name ‘Tauktae’ pronounced as TauTe, given by Myanmar. It is a Burmese language word and it means a lizard.
