Fishing, sailing, bathing in sea banned n Heavy showers forecast in Karachi n Section 144 imposed n Emergency declared at hospitals in Karachi division, Balochistan.

 

KARACHI   -   The Sindh government has decided to evacu­ate residential areas and other human settle­ments located near the coastal areas of Sindh, including Badin and Thatta. This decision comes as Cyclone Bipar­joy looms over the Ara­bian Sea, posing threats.

The cyclone came within 690km of Karachi on Monday, with winds in the storm blowing be­tween 180 to 200 km/h. According to the latest update from the Pakistan Meteorological Depart­ment, Cyclone Biparjoy, also known as ESCS Bi­parjoy, has tracked fur­ther northward over the past 12 hours. It cur­rently lies near Latitude 19.5N, longitude 67.6E, at a distance of about 600km south of Kara­chi and 580km south of Thatta. The cyclone is likely to continue mov­ing north until June 14, and then turn northeast, cross­ing between southeast Sindh and Indian Gujarat on June 15 at noon. The Met Office has classi­fied Biperjoy as a severe storm, showing no signs of weakening. The sea surface temperature ranges from 30 to 32 degrees Celsius. However, waves have reached heights of 30 to 40 feet in the center of the storm.

Thatta, Sajawal, and Badin are currently facing the highest risk from the approaching storm. The residents of Thatta are ex­periencing severe fear and pan­ic as they brace for the potential impact. The impact of Biparjoy will keep the city hot, with the temperature reaching 40 de­grees Celsius.

The temperature in the city is likely to reach 40 degrees Cel­sius due to the cyclone. Addi­tionally, the cessation of sea breezes will make it feel like 41 to 42 degrees. Strong winds are expected to blow in the city from June 13 to June 15.

Alongside the strong winds, there is a possibility of heavy showers in various parts of Sindh, including Karachi, That­ta, Badin, Sajawal, Mirpur Khas. The road leading from Seaview to Village has been closed to traffic due to the cyclone.

Both tracks of the road have been closed for traffic as a pre­cautionary measure in view of the cyclone. In light of Bipar­joy, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Kara­chi commissioner to discuss se­curity arrangements across the city. During the meeting, he is­sued the following orders to the administration. Unnecessary movement of citizens should be stopped during hurricanes and expected rains. Municipal bod­ies and district administrations should keep the control room active 24 hours a day.

The authorities concerned have been ordered to remove billboards and other loose structures, posing any threat to human lives, from the city. KMC, DMC, Water Board, and PDMA have made drainage arrange­ments more efficient.

Relief camps will be estab­lished in Ibrahim Haidari, Mubarak Village, and the sur­rounding areas. Amid the cy­clone threat, Commissioner Ka­rachi has imposed Section 144 on going to the sea as the cy­clone is about 910kms away from the port city.

According to the notification, bathing, and hunting in the sea will be banned, and fishermen in the sea are also at risk, the ban will be imposed from June 11 until further order. Hospi­tals have been put on high alert in Balochistan The Baloch­istan government has imposed Section 144 across the coast­al areas, and all hospitals have been put on high alert. In addi­tion, the leaves of employees in all relevant departments have been canceled.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has in­structed the Makran Commis­sioner and Kalat Commissioner to oversee the implementation of storm response measures.

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minis­ter Syed Murad Ali Shah on Mon­day said that around 32,466 people of district Sujawal, Ba­din, and Thatta and residents of 70 dangerous buildings of Kara­chi were prone to the Very Se­vere Cyclonic Storm (VSCS) `BI­PARJOY’ likely to hit the coastal belt on June 15. “We are tak­ing all-out measures to shift the people to secure areas and re­moving loose installations like billboards, sign boards, and such other weak structures to avoid any untoward incident.” 

Addressing a press confer­ence at CM House regarding the `BIPARJOY’, CM Murad Ali Shah said that `BIPARJOY’ had further moved northward.

He was flanked by provin­cial ministers Sharjeel Memon and Nasir Shah. He added that under the existing upper-lev­el steering winds, it was most likely to track further in the North-Northeast direction to­wards Southeast Sindh-Indian Gujarat coast. 

He added that the people who were prone to cyclone would have to vacate their houses for shifting to safer areas, other­wise, government would re­move them forcibly because their life was dearer to them. The district administration and Pak Navy had evacuated near­ly 500 villagers and evacuation was underway for the remain­ing 1500 villagers. Temporary placement of villagers at camp­sites at Katibunder had been developed. “The favourable en­vironmental conditions (sea surface temperature of 30-31°C, low vertical wind shear & up­per-level divergence) are sup­porting the system to maintain its intensity,” the CM said and added under the existing up­per-level steering winds, the ESCS “BIPARJOY” was most like­ly to track further Northward until 14 June morning.

Talking about the impact of the storm, Murad Ali Shah said that with its probable approach to the southeast Sindh coast, widespread wind-dust/thun­derstorm rain with some very heavy/extremely heavy falls ac­companied by squally high-in­tensity winds of 80-100Km/hour were likely in Thatta, Su­jawal, Badin, Tharparkar & Umerkot districts during 13-17 June. Mr. Shah said that Dust/thunderstorm-rains with few heavy falls and accompanied by winds of 60-80 Km/hour were likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tan­do Allayar, Mirpurkhas districts from 14-16 June. 

He added that the winds might cause damage to loose and vul­nerable structures such as Kut­cha houses and solar panels. 

Quoting the PDMA and MET office reports, the chief minis­ter said that a storm surge of three to five meters or 8-12 feet was expected at the land falling points such as (Keti Bandar and around. Therefore, he said that through the district administra­tion, Pak Navy, and Pak Army Fishermen have been called back from the sea and have been directed not to go fishing.