At least five people, including two children, lost their lives and several others sustained wounds due to roof and wall collapse incidents after gusty winds battered different parts of Karachi on Friday.
The winds uprooted trees and electricity polls, besides causing road accidents, house collapses, and power outages in the city.
A boy named Farman got critically wounded in a wall collapse incident in the Orangi Town area of the metropolis. He was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital before being moved to Jinnah Hospital. However, he succumbed to his serious injuries later.
Taimuria Station House Officer (SHO) Abdul Rasheed said a man was killed in a wall collapse near Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad.
The SHO said the deceased man, 60-year-old Ratan Bagh, used to sell flowers in the area.
“He was sitting against the wall when it collapsed as strong winds blew,” he said, adding that the deceased person’s brother, who was at a distance from him at the time of the incident, remained safe.
It is pertinent to note that strong winds were blowing in the city from the west at 25-30 knots (1kn equals 1.852kilometres per hour) as the result of a “steep pressure gradient”, stated the Met Office.
Sardar Sarfaraz, chief meteorologist at the Met department, further explained in a video clip that the pressure gradient was high in western Balochistan and Iran due to the presence of a westerly low-pressure weather system in the eastern parts of Balochistan adjoining south Punjab and upper Sindh.
This, he said, had triggered gusty winds in Karachi.
Sarfaraz said the windy and dusty weather in the city was likely to continue till midnight.
He said strong winds could cause trees to fall and damage “loose structures” such as tents.
He further added that the speed of winds was increasing to 35kn in some areas.
Separately, the Met Office issued a weather advisory, which said Sindh, including Karachi, was likely to experience a “mild cold wave” between January 22 and January 27.
During this period, the advisory said, night temperatures in most cities of Sindh were expected to drop to four degrees Celsius to six degrees Celsius and in Karachi to eight degrees Celsius to nine degrees Celsius.
It added that weather was likely to remain cloudy and there were chances of light rain in Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Larkana, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Shikarpur and Qambar-Shahdadkot.
The advisory further revealed that dry weather, cold nights and foggy mornings would be experienced in plain areas elsewhere in the province.
With additional input from INP
