Orkaan Phet (cat.4) maakt slachtoffers in Oman en Pakistan

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Watching for Tropical Cyclone Phet in Indian Ocean


AccuWeather.com meteorologists continue to watch a well organized area of showers and thunderstorms over the northern Indian Ocean for possible tropical cyclone formation.

The showers and thunderstorms have persisted since late last week over the Arabian Sea.

While the region had been fighting wind shear through the weekend, there are signs now of that shear weakening, hence making the region more favorable for development.

Water temperatures are adequately warm in this region; 88 degrees!


Steering currents would tend to carry the system northeastward toward Pakistan and northwestern India as the week progresses.

People in this area, as well as shipping interests should continue to keep track of developments.

Extreme heat has been baking this area in recent weeks. The heat has set world temperature records. Jacobabad, Pakistan reached at least 117 degrees on Monday, May 31, 2010.


Clouds and some rain would not be a bad thing, provided the storm does not become too powerful, raising the risk of flooding rain and storm surge.

While this area is not as vulnerable to storm surge, as that of Bangladesh there is concern anytime a cyclone roars ashore.

Much of the region relies on the monsoon to bring rainfall. The monsoon in India and neighboring countries, a periodic flow of moisture-producing downpours from the Indian Ocean, lasts about four months spanning June through September.

The India Meteorological Department has declared that the monsoon over the Kerala coast (the southwestern of India) has begun.

People in the region are hoping for adequate rainfall in the region during this year's Monsoon to boost grain and oilseed output.

Parts of the region experienced their driest conditions last season in decades, greatly impacting agricultural production, leading to soaring food prices.

The sparse rainfall last year in the region has contributed to the abnormal heat in Pakistan and India.

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Gujarat (Gujarati: ગુજરાત) is een deelstaat in het westen van India. Het beslaat 6% van het land. Qua bevolking is het met 50.671.017 (2001[2]) inwoners de tiende van India.

Karachi (Urdu: کراچي; vroeger gespeld Kurrachee) is de grootste stad van Pakistan en de hoofdstad van de provincie Sindh. Het is tevens het financiële en commerciële hart van Pakistan. Met een inwoneraantal van 9.339.023 (1998[2]) behoort Karachi qua aantal inwoners tot de grootste steden van de wereld. Een niet-officiële schatting voor 2009 geeft 12.827.927 inwoners[1].

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Dangerous Tropical Cyclone Phet Nears Oman, May Curve to Pakistan

A strengthening and already very intense tropical cyclone may lead to a natural disaster, threatening millions of lives along the northern Arabian Seacoast in the Middle East Thursday into the weekend.

Topical Cyclone Phet, in the Arabian Sea, will pass over the coast of Oman tonight and Thursday, before shifting its track to the east, possibly bringing it near Karachi, Pakistan.

Phet, the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane, with its sustained winds of 145 mph and gusts to 175 mph as of Wednesday morning, EDT, was nearing the island of Masira just off the coast of Oman.

The storm is expected to curve to the northeast. However, this may not occur until the storm center passes over the northeast tip of Oman, between the island of Masirah and Cape al Hadd Thursday.

Phet continued to strengthen Wednesday and could reach Category 5 (hurricane) status before nearing land. The storm threatens to unleash destruction from high winds, pounding surf and torrential rain on a location that typically receives only a few inches of rain per year.

Assuming Phet does curve along the coast of Oman, dry, desert air will be pulled southward and would protect inland areas from catastrophic rainfall. Thousands of people in communities along the coast of Oman from Dawwah to Sur could still be hit very hard.

Tropical Cyclone Gonu hit the Sur area hard in 2007 and is considered to be Oman's worst natural disaster.

Phet could have a very similar outcome turning the dry stream beds, called wadis, into raging torrents, while mudslides cascade down the mountainsides in the northeast part of Oman.

Odds favor the destructive winds of Phet to slide to the east of the oil fields in Oman and southern Iran, as the tropical cyclone is rather compact.

A track more inland over Oman would cause rapid weakening of the storm but could bring heavy rain, damaging wind and flooding as far northwest as the Oman capital of Muscat, home to over 600,000 people.

Since Phet is expected to curve to the east Friday after nearing or landing in Oman, a trip back over the warm, open waters of the northern part of the Arabian Sea would allow for restrengthening.

Over the weekend, Phet could slam into coast of Pakistan as a major tropical cyclone, threatening the city of Karachi and other coastal communities, perhaps with damaging and life-threatening consequences.

Fifteen and a half million people live in the city of Karachi, part of the Indus River Delta region.

Depending upon the nature of the expected recurve of Phet, the northwest part of India could also be threatened.

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Cyclone kills two, halts oil and gas in Oman

MUSCAT, June 4 (Reuters) - Cyclone Phet, despite weakening to a Category 1 storm, pummelled Oman's coastline on Friday, killing two and halting the small oil-producing country's oil and gas production, officials and state media said.

Phet's first confirmed casualties were an Omani man who died trying to cross a flooded area in Oman's northern al Dhahira region and a Bangladeshi woman who was electrocuted in Qurayyat village near the capital Muscat, state television said.

"Some of the rescue operations are being hampered by poor visibility and strong winds," inspector general of police and customs Malik bin Suleiman al-Maamary said on Omani television. "There is bound to be damage but it is too early to assess it."

Oman's meteorological office said that wind speed was 120 kph near the Omani island of Masirah, and the cyclone was expected to move away from Oman on Saturday, leaving the country relatively unscathed compared to Phet's predecessor.

"This is not as bad as (Cyclone) Gonu and people are better prepared," said Ali Rashid, a resident of the capital Muscat.

Cyclone Gonu, which battered the country in 2007, killed 54 people swept away by flood waters in Oman and Iran.

Despite Phet's downgrade from a Category 3 to a Category 1 on Friday, the cyclone brought fierce, heavy rains with winds peaking at 138 kph (86 mph).

"I saw two cars dive into the valley one after another as the drivers tried to go around a bend," Mustafa Suleiman, of the eastern al-Ashkharah region, told Reuters.

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Pakistan vreest komst tropische storm


AMSTERDAM - Een op komst zijnde tropische storm heeft zondag in de Pakistaanse stad Karachi ernstige stortregens veroorzaakt. Huizen raakten beschadigd, wegen kwamen onder water te staan en elektriciteit werd afgesneden.
Cycloon Phetslideshow De autoriteiten vrezen ergere overstromingen en zijn begonnen met de evacuatie van bewoners.

Sommigen weigerden hun huizen te verlaten, maar de meeste mensen konden naar hoger gelegen gebied gebracht worden.


Verwacht wordt dat de tropische storm later op zondag aan land komt en meer wind en regen met zich meebrengt. In Oman zorgde de tropische cycloon -genaamd Phet- voor ten minste zestien doden.


Slechte staat

Grote delen van Karachi en andere kustplaatsen in Pakistan zijn zeer arm. Wegen, bruggen, huizen en afwateringssystemen zijn in zeer slechte staat waardoor ze kwetsbaar worden voor harde wind, zware regen en woeste zee


bron nu.nl

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Cycloon Phet eist tien doden in Pakistan

Tien mensen zijn omgekomen en duizenden anderen zijn hun huis kwijt nu de tropische cycloon Phet in Pakistan hevige regenbuien en overstromingen veroorzaakt. Dat is vandaag bekendgemaakt. De belangrijke haven van Karachi bleef gespaard van de cycloon, die gisteren tachtig kilometer verder in het zuiden aan land kwam in het district Thatta.

Vooral laaggelegen gebieden aan de kust kregen het hard te verduren met golven tot vijf meter hoog. Minstens tien mensen werden geëlektrocuteerd in Karachi, waar de zware regenval de stroom onderbrak. Tientallen mensen raakten gewond.

Verschillende vluchten op de internationale luchthaven van Karachi werden geannuleerd of liepen vertraging op. Reddings- en noodhulp draaien naar verluidt op volle toeren. Eerder eiste Phet al minstens zes doden in het sultanaat Oman. (afp/adv)

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