Thousands evacuated, schools closed as India, Pakistan brace for rare August cyclone By Reuters
By Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Sumit Khanna
KARACHI/AHMEDABAD (Reuters) – Coastal cities and towns in India and Pakistan were bracing for a rare August storm on Friday, as heavy rains and strong winds forced authorities to close schools and evacuate thousands of people.
India's weather office said a severe depression has formed over the land and a severe storm is likely on Friday evening, heading north-west over the Arabian Sea for the next two days.
Schools in Pakistan's largest city Karachi and parts of India's Kutch state in Gujarat have been closed, officials said, as heavy rains lashed both areas.
A typhoon in August is rare and this is the first in decades, data from India's weather office showed.
“Cyclone formation usually occurs over the ocean and then moves over land. This type of system is unusual because it has formed over land and is now facing the ocean,” said Ashok Kumar Das, head of India's Meteorological Department in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. , he told Reuters.
Three more people died in Gujarat overnight in rain-related incidents, bringing the toll to 31 this week, while authorities evacuated more than 8,700 people in 10 districts of the state in the past 24 hours, officials said.
“There is a lot of water logging damage in many places in Kutch district due to heavy rains in the last few days. We have evacuated people from coastal areas and taken them to schools and other facilities,” said Kutch district collector, Amit Arora. .
Both Das and Arora said the impact of the storm's intensity is likely to diminish in Gujarat as the storm moves from land to sea.
“The wind speed has come down to 40-50 kmph,” Arora said.
In neighboring Pakistan, authorities warned of urban flooding and flooding in rural areas due to heavy rain, and urged residents to stay indoors.
Both countries have warned fishermen against entering the sea.
Parts of Karachi received 147 mm (5.79 inches) of rain overnight, the local weather office said. The mayor of the city, Murtaza Wahab, wrote in X, urged residents to avoid “unnecessary movement”.
