Karachi: City receives over 140mm rain, 20 killed

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Azeem Samar

Karachi

The city received over 140 millimetres of rain in the first spell of monsoon showers on Saturday, collapsing the city’s infrastructure and wrecking havoc with civic life, inundating several major and minor arteries as well as causing numerous power outages.

The Meteorological Department’s observatory at Karachi Airport recorded 140mm of maximum rainfall till midnight. Earlier, the model observatory at Gulistan-e-Jauhar recorded 93.2 millimetres rain, while 82 millimetres (mm) rain were recorded at Gulshan-e-Hadeed. Till 6pm on Saturday, the Landhi observatory of Met office had recorded 77 mm rain, 37 mm rain at PAF Faisal, Masroor Base recorded 56 mm rain, at Meteorological Complex University Road 15.2 mm rain, and 64.6 mm rain in Saddar. The Met office recorded 28.5 degree Centigrade and 25.5 degree C maximum and minimum mercury-levels in the city with 92 per cent humidity.

Rain started in the wee hours of Saturday, and continued throughout the day in the form of downpour or intermittent drizzle. A major spell of rain took place after 3pm on Saturday, and then again shortly after 10pm.

The latter spell especially crashed telecommunication, drainage, and electricity systems across the metropolis, with several grid stations going offline and hundreds of feeders shutting down electricity to a number of areas. Several motor vehicles fell into disrepair on almost every major artery of the city, with a number of rain-related causalities also being reported.



Collapse of civic infrastructure

Inundation of streets, alleys and roads took place in every locality of the city, with various municipal authorities in the city including those under the jurisdiction of City District Government Karachi (CDGK), different cantonment boards, and other land controlling authorities in the city, starting de-watering operations in various affected areas. However, the task of clearing accumulated rainwater is stated to take at least a couple of days to complete.

A number of important arteries in the city were inundated following the downpour. The track starting from Jahangir Road to Teen Hatti Bridge, and then onwards to Gurumandir was completely blocked due to overflowing rainwater. All roads leading up to and around Saddar were also severely flooded, while a similar situation was witnessed at several points along MA Jinnah Road, including Purani Numaish. Accumulated rainwater could also be at the refurbished Sharea Faisal, including at Regent Plaza and some areas between Jinnah Terminal turning and Star Gate. Reports of severe flooding were also received from villages in and around Gadap and Bin Qasim towns.

The areas under the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and Defence Housing Authority (DHA), where a new storm water drainage system has been recently installed, also witnessed flooding and overflowing rainwater, especially in the low-lying parts of the cantonment. Pools of standing rainwater especially developed around parts of Khayaban-e-Badban, Khayaban-e-Bahria, Khayaban-e-Hilal, and Khayaban-e-Badar. DHA authorities however passed responsibility of maintenance on to CBC.

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