KARACHI: A woman died after being hit by a falling tree as strong winds blowing at the speed of up to 85 kilometres per hour on Friday uprooted over a dozen trees, knocked down some five electricity and telecommunication poles and damaged around six vehicles in what was described as a “rare” weather phenomenon of a deep depression in the Arabian Sea turning into a cyclone during the monsoon season.

“It would be a rare event as cyclones are uncommon in the monsoon season,” Chief Meteorologist Dr Sardar Sarfaraz had said.

Rescue-1122 official Hassaan Khan told Dawn that strong gusts brought down round 15 trees in different parts of the city.

A 50-year-old woman died and three private vehicles were damaged as a tree in Gulshan-i-Iqbal fell on the main road.

Gusts bring down around 15 trees, blow away poles

The official said the incident occurred in the area off Stadium Road. The woman died on the spot. Her body was recovered and sent to a hospital. Later on, she was identified as Shamim Bibi, 55. She was stated to be a beggar.

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Apart from falling trees, the officer added, by Friday evening some five electricity and telecom service poles were also hit by strong winds.

“As the trees and poles fell over the ground, it damaged some six vehicles in different parts of the city,” he said and added that rescue teams were still active in different neighbourhoods in multiple operations of which data wasn’t yet available.

“So the number could rise by the time we call it a day,” added the official.

In another incident, two siblings suffered injuries in a roof collapse in New Karachi.

The official said a portion of the roof collapsed on a family near Do Mint Chowrangi.

As a result, Ghufran Umer, 23, and his sister Beenish Umer, 21, came under its debris and suffered injuries. They were taken to hospital.

A tree in Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block-17 fell near the office of City Warden. The tree fell on electric wires, which disrupted the traffic. Meanwhile another tree fell owing to heavy winds in Block-10 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar. No one was hurt in the incident.

The Met office said that heavy winds started blowing in the midnight and further intensified as dawn broke.

The maximum 85.19 kilometres per hour wind speed was recorded at the Met office Masroor. The situation pushed the relevant authorities to issue alerts and warning mainly for travellers, roads users and those out under the open, to take precautionary measures and stay safe.

DIG traffic Ahmed Ahmed Nawaz Cheema through traffic helpline and its FM Radio 88.6 service warned motorists to be cautious while driving on any road as strong winds could cause collapse of billboards or any concrete structure.

The rare weather conditions also impacted utilities services. The K-Electric while announcing outages in different parts of the city due to damage to its power supply infrastructure asked Karachiites to stay away from electric poles.

“There are reports of trees falling in different areas which also have affected the power supply infrastructure,” it said in a brief statement.

“The power supply to some areas are also affected and our teams on the ground to restore the services. The people are requested to stay from vulnerable infrastructure and using illegal connections for the power supply. This could cause irreparable loss.”

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2024