Braving the weather: Men riding a donkey cart through floodwaters in Multan, Pakistan. — AFP
COASTAL towns and cities in India and Pakistan braced for a rare August cyclone, as heavy rains and winds forced authorities to close schools and evacuate thousands.
India’s weather office said a deep depression had formed over land and was likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by yesterday evening, moving north- westwards over the Arabian Sea in the next two days.
Schools in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi and parts of Kutch district in India’s Gujarat were shut, officials said, as heavy rain lashed both places.
A cyclonic storm during August is a rare occurrence with this one being the first in decades, data from India’s weather office showed.
“Cyclone formation generally takes place over sea and then it moves over to land.
“This type of system is unusual because it formed over land and is now moving towards the sea,” said Ashok Kumar Das, head of the Indian Meteorological Department in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Three more people died in Gujarat overnight from rain- related incidents, taking the toll to 31 this week, and authorities evacuated over 8,700 people from 10 districts in the state over the last 24 hours, officials said.
“There has been severe water logging in several places in Kutch district due to heavy rains over the last couple of days.
“We evacuated people from coastal areas and shifted them to schools and other facilities,” district collector of the Kutch district, Amit Arora, said.
Both Das and Arora said the effect of the cyclonic storm was likely to lessen in Gujarat as the storm moves from land to sea.
In neighbouring Pakistan, authorities warned of urban flooding and flash floods in rural areas due to the heavy rain. — Reuters
