Cyclone 'Kyarr' update: Karachi’s coastal area affected by cyclone

KARACHI: Pakistan Meteorological Department on Sunday issued alert saying that  a very severe cyclonic storm, ‘Kyarr’, is developing over the east-central Arabian Sea and has  rapidly intensified into a super cyclonic storm during the past 12 hours.

According to a report in Daily Jang, close to 185 houses have been affected and more than 500 people have been evacuated so far as the rising water started entering Ibrahim Hyderi on Sunday night.

Sea water also entered the course and parking of DHA Golf Club and the area comprising the Boat Club, according to reports. 

Responding to the situation, PPP MNA Rafiullah Ibrahim reached the area and helped set up a makeshift camp for those affected by the storm’s impact.

According to Met Office, "currently, none of the Pakistan coastal areas is under direct threat from this system."  However, under its influence scattered rains and thunderstorms are expected in lower Sindh and along the Makran coast from Monday (today) to Wednesday.

 "The system lay centred at 0800 PST of 27th October with maximum sustained surface winds of 230-240kmh gusting 260kmh, at about 850km south of Karachi and 1,500km east of Salalah,”  said the cyclone advisory issued by the Met Office.

A city weatherman said the TC-Kyarr was likely to move further northwestward towards the Oman coast.

The Met Office advised fishermen to remain alert and not to venture in the deep sea from today. They added that the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre of the PMD was regularly monitoring the intensity and track of the tropical cyclone.

It asked the aviation and naval authorities, chief secretaries and disaster management of Sindh and Balochistan and National Institute of Oceanography to keep them abreast of the system.