KARACHI, June 24: The thunderstorm that struck the city on Saturday and caused heavy damage to the life and property here also affected the city’s coastal areas.

“About 100 out of 178 of our fishing boats have been damaged by the thunderstorm besides causing heavy damage to our houses,” Khuda Gunj, a resident of Sunehra Beach of Deh Gabopat, told Dawn.

He said the rooftops of many katcha houses in the area had been blown away by the thunderstorm. However, no damage to life was reported.

Reports collected from different areas show that a number of houses of the about 104 villages of Deh Gabopat were damaged. Similar reports were received from Deh Lal Bakhar, Mindyari, Gondpaat, Chikara, Muwach and 500-Quarters, all falling in Keamari Town.

Jan Mohammad, owner of a poultry farm in Deh Lal Bakhar, said he was one of the many people whose poultry farms had severely been damaged on Saturday.

On the eastern coast, damage to boats and houses had been reported at Ibrahim Hyderi, Rerhi and Chashma villages.

An official of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum said they had also received reports from different coastal villages of Badin and Thatta districts, where the fishing community had been hit by the dust storm.

Besides heavy human casualties, the rain has also rendered homeless around 500 families in the Gujro and Songal UCs.