KARACHI, Oct 2: A severe tropical cyclone swirling in the Arabian Sea will pummel the south-east coastal belt of Sindh some time Sunday morning, a high-ranking official of the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.

"This is the third cyclone of the year. At the moment, the cyclone is 425 kilometres south of Karachi and is moving towards southern Sindh at 20 kilometres per hour with packing winds of 70-100 km per hour.

When the cyclone makes landfall, it will have over 10-foot-high storm surge in addition to normal tides," said the PMD director-general, Dr Qamaruzzaman Chaudhry, on Saturday evening.

He said that fishermen of Sindh and Balochistan had been asked not to venture out for another two days.

A severe tropical cyclone appeared in the Arabian Sea in May. It, however, dissipated its energy before making landfall.

A weather report issued by the Met Office said the cyclone 03A which emerged on Friday was expected to gain intensity and move towards north-northeasterly districts with a possibility of few heavy falls accompanied with strong winds during the next 48 hours.

It has moved northward and now lies centred at 0800 hours local time near latitude of 21 degrees North and longitude of 66.5 degrees East.

Our Badin Correspondent adds: Several towns and coastal areas of Badin district received rain with strong winds on Saturday.

The downpour started at 4pm and compelled the people to stay indoors.

Arrangements have been made to face any eventuality as the tropical cyclone is expected to hit the southern coastal areas on Sunday.

The Badin district Nazim visited coastal villages and inspected the arrangements. He told this correspondent that 68 boats had been made available, the rain relief contingent plan had been implemented and relief camps established.

He said that fishermen had been advised not to venture into sea and the people living in low-lying and coastal areas had been asked to shift to safe places.

Our Hyderabad bureau adds: A provincial control room has been set up in the office of the district additional relief commissioner, under supervision of assistant director (operations) of the department, to manage relief and rescue operations and to tackle the cyclone situation.

A press release issued by the District Relief Department here said that the control room would operate round the clock, with telephone No0221-9200569 and fax No0221-9200573.