Schools in Pakistan's Karachi shut as rare August cyclone builds up

Parts of Karachi received 147 mm (5.79 inches) of rain overnight said. (Photo/AFP)

Heavy rains and stormy winds forced authorities in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, to close schools, after a deep depression in the Arabian Sea that the weather office says could develop into a cyclonic storm.

The deep depression which is off the Rann of Kutch in India's Gujarat, is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm on Friday, India's weather office said, adding that it would move north-west over the Arabian Sea in the next two days.

Parts of Karachi received 147 mm (5.79 inches) of rain overnight, the local weather office said, and the city's mayor, Murtaza Wahab, in a post on X, asked residents to avoid "unnecessary movement".

Authorities in Pakistan asked fishermen and sailors not to venture out to sea, and warned that the storm is likely to result in flooding in cities as well as flash floods in hilly areas in coming days.

More than 28 people died and around 18,000 have been evacuated since Sunday from cities near the Gujarat coast, disaster management authorities said on Thursday, even as more rain was expected in the state as the cyclonic storm builds up.

Mansoon and mudslide

In a remote part of northwestern Pakistan, a mudslide triggered by heavy monsoon rain hit a house killing 12 people, mostly children, a rescue official said.

Inayat Ali, an official of the state-run emergency service, said the mudslide happened overnight in Upper Dir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near Afghanistan. He said rescuers retrieved the bodies of nine children, two women and a man.

Ali provided no further details.

Authorities have warned that ongoing heavy rain, which began last month, could cause landslides and flash floods across Pakistan.

Since July 1, more than 275 people have died in rain-related incidents in various parts of the country.

Pakistan’s annual monsoon season runs from July through September. Scientists have blamed climate change for heavier rains in recent years.

In 2022, downpours inundated one-third of the country, killing 1,739 people.

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Source: TRT