As you may have heard already, Karachi is no longer in Cyclone Gulab’s path and the city’s residents are thanking Sufi saint Abdullah Shah Ghazi.
That the late Abdullah Shah Ghazi and his centuries-old shrine in Clifton protect the city from cyclones is one of Karachi’s oldest urban myths. But whether they truly believe in it or not, many Karachiites took to Twitter on Thursday to thank the Sufi saint for making sure the city was cyclone free.
“Like many cyclones in the past, “Gulab cyclone” is also not hitting Karachi because Karachiites have have late saint Abdullah Shah Ghazi,” many citizens have shared this feeling on social media today after hearing news of diversion of cyclone Gulab.
In India, Maharashtra state witnessed heavy rains and floods under the impact of Cyclone Gulab. The state disaster management control said that a total of 13 persons and 206 livestock lost their lives in the rains and the subsequent floods. Eight districts including six of Marathwada were affected by the cyclone. Two NDRF teams have been deployed in Latur and Osmanabad while one SDRF team has been deployed in Jalgaon.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that extremely heavy rains are expected at a few places in Marathwada as well as Mumbai and other parts of the coastal Konkan region of Maharashtra in the next 24 hours. The forecast came even as Mumbai received heavy showers during the day, news agency PTI reported.
In Pakistan, the Met Office in Karachi forewarned the people and Sindh government of devastating rains in the wake of cyclone Gulab, but the intensity of the tsunami weakened today which ended chances of rains in Karachi.
