A deep depression situated approximately 170 kilometres from Karachi on Friday has intensified into Cyclone Asna over the northeast Arabian Sea along Sindh’s coast. The deep depression formed north of the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast of India this week.
Zoom Earth live radar also reported the system as a cyclone with a speed of 65 kilometres per hour. An alert issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) at 5:30 pm Friday said that a deep low pressure system over Rann of Kutch, India has moved westwards over the past six hours and is currently located around 170 kilometres east/southeast from Karachi.
The official said that the system is expected to "initially move further west/northwestwards" and will be affected in Karachi Division, Tharparkar, Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Hyderabad, Tand Muhammad Khan, Tand Allahial, Matiari and Umerkot districts of Mirpurkhas Province till Saturday.
Widespread rain/wind thunderstorm with isolated heavy/very heavy rain and isolated very heavy rain are likely in Sanghar, Jamshoro, Dadu and Shaheed Benazirabad. Schools in Karachi, Hyderabad and some parts of Kutch district in India's Gujarat state were closed as heavy rains lashed the two areas, officials said.
Three more people died in rain-related incidents in Gujarat overnight, bringing the death toll this week to 31. Authorities said they had evacuated more than 8,700 people from 10 districts in the state in the past 24 hours.
Meteorologists have described the formation of a cyclone during the monsoon season as a "rare phenomenon". "It will be a rare event as it is uncommon for a cyclone to form during the monsoon season," said Chief Meteorologist Dr Dominic.
Sardar Sarfaraz earlier. "If a deep-level low pressure system moves from land to sea and favourable conditions persist, there is an 80 per cent probability of a low pressure system forming." Sarfraz had previously said that if the storm develops, it will be the first cyclone in the Arabian Sea in August since 1976 and will be given the name "Asna", proposed by Pakistan.
He added that names will be assigned to regional cyclones as per a list prepared by a panel of 13 countries, including Pakistan. The India Meteorological Department said the low pressure system will move northwest over the Arabian Sea over the next two days.
The Indian Express reported that the formation of a low pressure system in the Arabian Sea in August was a rare event. The last time such a storm occurred was in 1964. "Cyclones usually form over the ocean and then move onto land.
This system is unusual as it formed over land and is now moving towards the sea," Ashok Kumar Das, director of the India Meteorological Department in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, told Reuters.
