Pakistan

At least four killed as strong winds batter Karachi

Casualties include two minor girls

News Desk April 15, 2019

A view of a dust storm. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

At least four people including two minor girls were killed as strong winds continued to batter Karachi on Monday. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) predicted rainfall across the city and said the current westerly spell would last till Thursday.

A minor girl died and several people were injured after strong winds followed by a dust storm knocked down power lines and damaged other structures in Karachi on Sunday night.

Several people were also injured after an electric wire broke and fell on a parked van in Karachi's Paposh Nagri area. The van caught fire after the incident. The injured were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

In addition, the roof of a private school located in Tipu Sultan was also ripped off on Monday morning due to the relentless wind. At least five students are reportedly injured.

A man died after a tree fell on him near Peoples Chowrangi and five children were also injured after the roof of their seminary collapsed.

Multiple road accidents were reported from the metropolis due to reduced visibility and gusty winds.

The Pakistan Navy was called in after a fishing boat disappeared of Karachi’s coast.

The westerly spell entered Sindh on Sunday and winds of up to 40km/h were recorded in the port city. The PMD added that winds can gust up to 80km/h.

Section 144 has been imposed along Karachi's coastline.

Dust storm in Karachi causes closure of airspace

The sand storm caused reduced visibility from 6 to 2 kms, which affected both local and international flight operations. Some flights to Dubai were cancelled, while several others were delayed by four to five hours.

Garden furniture in one of my neighbours house flew like a projectile and crashed into his vehicles windscreen breaking it. Please ensure there are NO free moving objects around you. #Karachi #DustStorm
— Fakhr-e-Alam S.I & S.E (@falamb3) April 14, 2019

PMD also said that the winds lowered the temperature in the city by 3C, which may fall further as rains are also predicted on Monday.

Right now karachi..#duststorm 😯 pic.twitter.com/U4JCSH0csD
— Talha Zubair (@Drtalhazubair) April 14, 2019

This is just like starting scene of Interstellar when Earth was losing it's existence and they were shifting to other planet. 👇🏼#DustStorm #karachiWeather pic.twitter.com/d0UJ2GQYyH
— 𝙽𝚢𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚙𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 ☠ (@shehzad_122) April 15, 2019

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