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Cyclone Phet hits Pakistan's coastline: officials
by Staff Writers
Karachi (AFP) June 6, 2010


Cyclone Phet kills 16 in Oman: civil defence
Muscat (AFP) June 6, 2010 - Life began to slowly return to normal in Oman on Sunday as the death toll of Cyclone Phet rose to 16 killed in the sultanate, officials said. Public and private sector employees were back to work, after the government declared a holiday the day before, an AFP correspondent said. Workers were beginning to clear the streets of Muscat of debris, but some streets remained blocked. Police said on Sunday they had found four missing people who had taken refuge in a mountain shelter. The latest toll from Omani civil defence was 16 killed, up from 15 victims the day before. Most of those killed were Omani, but civil defence said a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi were among the victims of the storm. Authorities have yet to announce the cost of damage caused by the cyclone.

On Sunday, Cyclone Phet killed at least four people as its moved on to Pakistan with heavy rains and winds lashing the port city of Karachi. Meanwhile Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), which accounts for 70 percent of Oman's oil production, said oil exports, which were interrupted Friday and Saturday, resumed on Sunday. Oil production, PDO said, did not stop during the storm. Before the cyclone hit in Oman, local authorities had taken several precautionary measures, evacuating hotels along the east coast and airlifting the residents of Masirah island to safer areas. The islanders were beginning to return on Saturday, Muammari said on state television. In 2007, Cyclone Gonu tore through Oman, killing at least 49 people and causing damage estimated at 3.9 billion dollars.

Cyclone Phet weakened Sunday after reaching two coastal districts of Pakistan's southern Sindh province, officials said.

Heavy rains and winds lashed Karachi, the province's capital, killing at least four people as the cyclone swirled along Pakistan's coast after killing 15 people in Oman.

"The cyclone moved rapidly eastwards in last six hours and went away from Karachi's coast" after hitting Sindh's Thatta and Badin coastal districts, Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, of Pakistan's meteorological department, told AFP.

"The cyclone will turn into depression in the next 12 hours, which will result in further widespread rains in Karachi and other coastal parts of Sindh," Chaudry said late Sunday.

Cyclone Phet was earlier expected to landfall near Karachi with maximum winds of 100 kilometres (60 miles) an hour after it hit Oman's coast, where 15 people died, including a Bangladeshi and a Pakistani.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from vulnerable coastal villages in Sindh, but thousands more refused to abandon their homes.

Hospitals in the Karachi area were also put on alert and medicines and tinned food stockpiled after meteorologists warned the cyclone might uproot power and communication lines along the coast.

Provincial health minister Saghir Ahmad told AFP at least four people had been electrocuted in Karachi after rains began lashing the city on Saturday night. Such deaths typically occur as a result of fallen power lines or faulty equipment becoming damp.

President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered lawmakers in Sindh to speed up relief work in areas expected to be battered by torrential rains, according to an official statement.

Pakistani authorities have already evacuated 60,000 people from along the 1,000-kilometre coastline, including 23,000 on outlying islands.

Thousands of large advertising billboards along the city streets have been taken down for fear that the winds could blow them over.

Hundreds of relief camps have been established in the affected areas but people have complained about the lack of facilities.

"My family had gone to a relief camp a couple of days ago but there were not enough food and medical facilities which forced us to come back home," Mohammad Hashim, a resident of the Karachi suburb of Rerhi Goth, told AFP.

Nadeem Ahmed, the head of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), said all relevant agencies and the armed forces were on alert.

"We are ready with our maximum abilities and resources to tackle any emergencies," he told AFP.

Chief meteorologist Mohammad Riaz told AFP that 128 millimetres of rain was recorded in the first spell of a cyclone-related downpour late Saturday and that more was expected.

"Heavy rains may cause flash flooding in Karachi and other parts of Sindh and the southwestern Balochistan province," he said.

The government has established relief camps in school buildings and set up health units and control rooms ready to operate if needed, an official said.

A government official in Balochistan province, Ataullah Mengal, said cyclone-related rains had injured 18 people in the coastal areas but no deaths had been reported.

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SHAKE AND BLOW
Heavy rains hit Oman as cyclone Phet approaches
Muscat (AFP) June 3, 2010
Heavy rains hit Oman's east coast on Thursday as cyclone Phet approached the sultanate pushing up from the Arabian Sea and authorities raised the alert level to orange. The cyclone, rated at a factor of 3.5 on a scale of five, was moving northwestwardly at a speed of eight kilometres (five miles) an hour. Winds were blowing at a 180 kilometres (112 miles) an hour. Hotels along the east c ... read more


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