Cyclone ASNA moves westward in Arabian Sea as monsoon rains cause 285 deaths in Pakistan

KARACHI: The cyclonic storm ASNA brewing over the Arabian Sea off the coast of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has moved westward during the past nine hours, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Saturday, as the ongoing monsoon season has resulted in 285 deaths from rain-related incidents across the country.
The weather system, which developed over India’s Rann of Kutch coast, resulted in a deep depression brewing in the Arabian Sea that intensified into cyclonic storm ASNA on Friday. The PMD said it was located about 200 kilometers southwest of Karachi at a latitude of 23.6°N and a longitude of 65.7°E and was likely to keep moving west-southwestwards.
“Under its influence, rain-thundershowers with few heavy falls and accompanied with squally winds (60-70Km/hour gusting 80Km/hour) likely in Karachi division, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Hyderabad, T.M Khan, T.A Yar, Matiari, Jamshoro and Dadu districts of Sindh today and Hub, Lasbella, Awaran, Keach & Gwadar districts of Balochistan till tomorrow night,” the PMD statement said.
It informed that heavy rains might inundate low-lying areas of the Makran coast with sea conditions likely to remain very rough. The PMD advised Sindh and Balochistan fishermen to not venture into the sea till tomorrow.
“PMD cyclone warning center in Karachi is closely monitoring the system and will issue the update accordingly,” it added.
Pakistan is already witnessing monsoon rains that have claimed 285 lives since they began in July, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). These include the loss of 29 lives in Balochistan, 88 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 106 in Punjab, 50 in Sindh, four in Gilgit Baltistan and eight in Azad Jammu Kashmir.
No loss of lives has been reported in the capital city, Islamabad, so far.
Heavy rains also triggered flash floods in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Friday, causing power outages and closure of schools in the city.
Pakistan is recognized as one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. 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.