KARACHI:
For the fourth time in around a month, Karachi lay in chaos in the aftermath of another spell of monsoon rains on Thursday.
Flooded roads, power breakdowns, toppled trees, roads choked with traffic, damaged structures and authorities’ negligence and hollow promises – nothing was out of the ordinary for the city’s residents as heavy downpours lashed the metropolis.
The calm before the storm
For the earlier part of the day, the city sizzled as temperature soared past 39 degrees Celsius and sea breezes remained suspended. With humidity levels rising from 79 per cent to 89 per cent later in the day, the port city’s residents languished, anticipating that the predicted rainfall would add to their misery.
Their fears began unfolding at around 2pm, when the first smattering of raindrops hit the city. From a drizzle, it soon transformed into a torrential shower, accompanied by thunder and lightning, that continued to batter the city for as long as two hours, while some areas continued to experience intermittent showers after the initial heavy downpour.
Choked and flooded
Multiple roads, including Sharae Faisal - the city’s main artery - were soon flooded by rainwater, which disrupted traffic on thoroughfares in the apparent absence of pre-emptive measures.
Besides Sharae Faisal and areas in its vicinity, other localities worst affected on Thursday included Nursery, Soldier Bazaar, Garden, Saddar, Burnes Road, North Karachi, New Karachi, Mehmoodabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and others.
Queues of vehicles stretching up to 10 kilometres were witnessed in many areas, leaving commuters frustrated while several vehicles ran out of fuel, adding to the predicament.
Lights out
Meanwhile, the city’s electricity infrastructure crumbled under heavy showers once again as reports of over 600 feeders tripping, transformers malfunctioning and cables breaking surfaced, telling the tale of K-Electric’s (KE) failure.
Areas particularly affected by prolonged electricity suspension included Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Liaquatabad, Saddar, PIB Colony, Landhi, Malir, Korangi and Shah Faisal Colony, among others.
Residents continued to struggle in the midst of heavy downpour, subsequent flooding and darkness, as electricity supply to most neighbourhoods remained suspended late into the night.
KE, however, claimed that it was necessary to shut down power due to water-logging in certain areas, adding that this created a risk of electrocution. As a result, it said in a statement, it was forced to suspend power supply to as many as 350 feeders.
Never ready
Following the havoc wreaked by the last spell of monsoon rainfall, authorities had made claims of taking pre-emptive measures to curb further destruction in Karachi ahead of expected downpours. Lawmakers from the Pakistan People Party - the ruling party in Sindh – spoke of cleaning nullahs, the mayor put various departments on high alert ahead of the rain and the Frontier Works Organisation was assigned the task of cleaning three major nullahs.
KE too had faced flak from different quarters for prolonged breakdowns during rains and electrocution deaths.
Yet the claims of preparation seemed to be only lip service, as rain once again drove the city into disarray. This was despite the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) predicting the current rain spell around a week ago, laying bare the inability of the Sindh government and local government institutions to cope with the monsoon.
More rain, more misery?
According to the PMD, the current rain spell to last until tomorrow (Saturday). Today (Friday), the city is forecast to experience heavy rains - even more than the previous day - and strong winds, while the temperature is likely to rise to 35 degrees Celsius.
The PMD has further predicted that Karachi will see 100 milimetres (mm) to 120mm of rain during the three-day spell.
On Thursday, the highest amount of rain, 56mm, was recorded at Faisal Base.
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