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With a deep depression<\/a> situated approximately 170 kilometres from Karachi on Friday, Pakistan\u2019s coastal areas are bracing for rains as the storm system has intensified into Cyclone Asna over the northeast Arabian Sea along Sindh\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n Zoom Earth\u2019s live radar<\/a> also denoted the system as a cyclonic storm with a speed of 65 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n According to an alert from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) issued at 10pm today, the cyclone over the northeast Arabian Sea off the Sindh coast has moved westward during the last six hours and now lies around 120 kilometres south of Karachi.<\/p>\n It said the system was likely to keep moving initially west-northwestwards and then west-southwestwards, adding that under its influence, rain and thundershowers with few heavy falls and accompanied by squally winds ranging from 60-70 kilometres per hour were likely in Karachi division, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Jamshoro and Dadu districts till Saturday and in Balochistan\u2019s Hub, Lasbella, Awaran, Kech and Gwadar districts till Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cHeavy rains may create water logging in low-lying areas of Makran coast. Sea conditions are likely to remain rough\/very rough with squally winds of 60-70km\/h,\u201d the PMD said.<\/p>\n It advised fishermen in Sindh not to venture into the sea till Saturday and those in Balochistan till Sunday.<\/p>\n Met officials have described the formation of a cyclone in the monsoon season as a \u201crare phenomenon\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be a rare event as cyclones are uncommon in the monsoon season,\u201d Chief Meteorologist Dr Sardar Sarfaraz said earlier<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is an 80 per cent chance for a cyclonic storm\u2019s formation when the deep depression would move from land to the sea and get favourable conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarfraz earlier said if the storm materialised it would be the first cyclone in the Arabian Sea in August since 1976 and would get the name \u2018Asna\u2019 suggested by Pakistan. He added that regional cyclones were assigned names according to a list prepared by a 13-country panel, including Pakistan.<\/p>\n