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A security guard guards a cordoned-off road towards the beach after the ban on bathing and fishing in Karachi
Photo: AKHTAR SOOMRO / REUTERS
A powerful tropical storm is approaching the coasts of Pakistan and India. The military in Pakistan has begun evacuating around 100,000 people on some stretches of coast, according to authorities.
The arrival of Cyclone Biparjoy is expected in the next two or three days, the Prime Minister of the southern province of Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, told the dpa news agency. Images from the Indian province of Gujarat already show severe flooding.
Also in the Pakistani city of Karachi, capital of Sindh, there are already evacuations. The authorities have also banned swimming and fishing in the sea. Hospitals and emergency services are on high alert.
Climate crisis is the reason for the increasing number of weather extremes
With an expected wind speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour and accompanied by heavy rainfall, Biparjoy is the most severe cyclone to hit Pakistan in 25 years, according to Sardat Safaraz, chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Institute. The cyclone could also increase the intensity of the incoming monsoon in Pakistan.
Last year, after unusually heavy monsoon rains, a third of the country was temporarily under water. Experts blame climate change for the increasing number of weather extremes in Pakistan. The South Asian country is among the countries most affected by the climate crisis, although it itself has hardly contributed to global CO2 emissions.
ZOB/DPA