Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday declared an emergency in all districts of the province that lie on the coastal belt, as cyclone Tauktae gathered steam.
“A control room should be established at the chief secretary’s office to keep close coordination with all the districts, in respect of their requirements and giving them necessary instruction on behalf of the government,” the chief minister said while presiding over a meeting at the CM House. During the meeting, the chief minister was told that there are two possible routes that the cyclone can travel. If the cyclone crosses Indian Gujarat, then its outer peripheral effect would be on Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar districts. Explaining the repercussions of the cyclone, a PMD official said Thatta, Badin and Mirpurkhas would receive heavy rainfall of 70 to 90 mm each, Umerkot 80 to 100 while Tharparkar would receive very heavy rainfall of 230 to 250 mm. He said in case the cyclone crosses the northwest and crosses the west of Karachi then its outer peripheral effect would be on Karachi, Hub, Lasbela, Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts. In that scenario, Karachi may receive 60 to 80 mm rainfall, Hyderabad 30 to 50 mm, Jamshoro 150-170 mm, Dadu 180 to 200 mm, Bela and Sukkur 80 to 100 each and Jacobabad 60 to 80 mm. DG PDMA Salman Shah told the meeting that the depression over the southeast Arabian Sea has intensified into a cyclonic storm, which has been dubbed as “TAUKTAE” and lay at a distance of about 1,460 km South-Southeast of Karachi. Shah informed the meeting that the maximum sustained winds around the system centre are 90-110 km/hr gusting at 120 km/hr. The system is likely to intensify further into a Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS) during the next 12-18 hours and move in the north-northwest direction and reach the Indian city of Gujarat by the morning of May 18.
Under the influence of this system, widespread heavy to very heavy dust/thunderstorm-rains with gusty winds of 80-100 km/hr are likely to occur in Thatta, Badin, Thar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Sanghar districts from 17 May to 20 May 2021. Dust/thunderstorm-rains with few heavy falls and gusty winds of 50-70km/hr are also likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Shaheed Benzirabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Dadu during 18-20 May 2021. The meeting was further informed that the sea conditions would be “rough to very rough” during this time, adding that fishermen have been advised not to venture in the sea May 16-20.
