As Cyclone Nilofar is barrelling across the Arabian Sea towards the coastal areas of Pakistan and India, the Sindh government declared emergency in 10 coastal districts – including six of Karachi – and authorities prepared to shift thousands of people out of the way of the storm.
Nilofar – listed as a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ by weather officials – is packing winds of up to 220 kilometres an hour. “It would start weakening Thursday afternoon and is very likely to cross the adjoining coastal areas of lower Sindh and Indian Gujarat Friday night as a ‘cyclonic storm or depression’ with a wind speed of 70-80 kilometres per hour gusting to 100 kilometres per hour,” chief meteorologist Tauseef Alam said.
The cyclone’s eye will pass around 250 kilometres from Karachi, he said, adding that the storm’s “outer waves would hit Pakistani coasts”, bringing strong winds, high tides and rains to southern Pakistan, especially Thatta, Sujawal, Badin and Tharparkar districts of Sindh. “Widespread rain/thundershowers with isolated heavy/very heavy falls accompanied by strong gusty winds are expected in lower Sindh, including Karachi, and coastal areas of Balochistan on Thursday and Friday,” he added.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has told district officials to prepare to evacuate villages along the coast and all beachside restaurants were closed. “We have estimated some 50,000 people might be evacuated if the need arises,” PDMA’s Director Operations Ikhlaque Qureshi told AFP.
“So far the communities are reluctant to leave their homes,” Deputy Commissioner Agha Shahnawaz Babur said, adding that they have marked around 135 villages for evacuation. “I’ve requested local notables to persuade the residents of Tharyon, Hagamroh, Kanghri, Chang, Khobar and other coastal villages to temporarily shift to the shelter camps set up by the government,” he said.
The Sindh government has declared a state of emergency in 10 coastal districts of the province – namely Thatta, Badin, Sujawal, Tharparkar and six districts of Karachi, provincial Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told a media briefing after a meeting of the provincial cabinet. Leaves of all government employees and civil servants posted in the coastal towns and villages have been cancelled, he said and advised residents living in coastal villages to move to safe areas.
According to Memon, warning has been issued to residents of settlements in coastal areas of Karachi such as Ibrahim Hyderi, Rehri Goth, Mubarak Village and Dabla Mohalla. Similarly, residents of Sea View and DHA have also been warned to shift to safer places, while a holiday has been announced in all schools and universities.
“The government will not force anyone to evacuate but it would be advisable for the residents to do so for their own safety,” he said. However, he said the cyclone would not affect Karachi as much as Thatta and Badin, but the government was taking all necessary precautions to minimise its effects.
Memon said the authorities had already started removing billboards from major thoroughfares of the metropolis and has appealed to building owners to help the government in removing hoardings. The government has also imposed Section 144 on swimming in the sea and people should also avoid going to the beach for their own safety, he said. Over 80% of the fishermen have safely returned from the sea, he added.
Over in Quetta, Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said authorities in the coastal belt of the province were closely monitoring the approaching storm and precautionary measures have been put in place to deal with it.
“I’ve asked the deputy commissioners of Gwadar and Lasbela to provide maximum relief to the people of the coastal region,” he told a news conference at the Provincial Disaster Management Authority office in Quetta. They have been tasked to ensure precautionary measures at the entire coastal belt – from Jewani to Sonmiani.
“We are also trying to protect fishing trawlers and boats which often suffer damages in such tropical cyclones,” he added. Indian authorities, meanwhile, said they were taking no chances with the storm – which is expected to make landfall in Gujarat’s Kutch district. “We have identified around 30,400 people who will be shifted from coastal areas to safer places by this evening,” Kutch official MS Patel told AFP.
The South Asian region is routinely hit by storms between April and November. Nilofar comes after Cyclone Hudhud that slammed into India’s east coast earlier this month, leaving some 20 people dead. The tail end of that cyclone swept into neighbouring Nepal causing snowstorms that claimed more than 40 lives in one of the country’s worst Himalayan trekking disasters.
Cyclone Phailin, which struck India last October, had winds of up to 220 kilometres per hour and caused extensive damage.
