KARACHI: The sea level has started to rise along the city’s coastal belt as cyclone Biparjoy moved closer to Karachi while evacuations are underway at a massive level from the Keti Bandar area in Thatta District, and a large number of people have been shifted to safer places.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) latest advisory, Biparjoy — which has been downgraded from extremely severe cyclonic storm to very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) — moved further north-northwestward during the last 12 hours.
It now lies near latitude 20.7°N and longitude 67.1°E at a distance of about 470km south of Karachi, 460km south of Thatta.
The PMD stated that maximum sustained surface winds are 140-150 km/hour gusts 170 km/hour around the system center, and sea conditions are phenomenal around the system center with a maximum wave height of 30 feet.
The favorable environmental conditions (sea surface temperature of 29-31°C, low vertical wind shear, and upper-level divergence) are in support of sustaining its strength through the forecast period.
Under the existing upper-level steering winds, the cyclone is most likely to track further northward until the morning of 14th June, then recurve northeastward and cross between Keti Bandar (Southeast Sindh) and Indian Gujarat coast on 15th June afternoon/evening as a very severe cyclonic storm with packing winds of 100-120Km/hour.
