‘Gifted’ rainfall: Saadi Garden greets fishy visitors

Children find fish in rainwater as experts scratch heads to find source

KARACHI: Splashing water on each other and jumping high in mud puddles, Kifayatullah and his friends, Zafar, Abdullah, Faazil and Rehman, were enjoying the post-rain weather on Thursday when they felt something fishy beneath their feet.

The boys were ecstatic to find several small fish swimming in the small puddles of water left behind by the rainfall the night before. As they peered over the new find, unsure of how to react, Faazil stepped forward and tried to catch one. “They come from the floodwater. My father told me,” he said. “Whenever it rains and the water comes in this area, it brings a few fish with it.”

As the children celebrated their unique find, the authorities scratched their heads trying to figure out where these piscine visitors came from.

In the aftermath of the heavy downpour on Tuesday and Wednesday, Saadi Garden — located adjacent to Saadi Town off Super Highway — was flooded with rainwater that overflowed from nearby nullahs and the highway. What amazed the officials was the presence of fish, which could only have come from Thado Dam nearby but the reservoir is far from overflowing.



“As far as I know, fish are found in Angora Nullah in Gulshan-e-Maymar,” said University of Karachi assistant professor of geology Adnan Khan. “Since Angora Nullah is not far away from Saadi Garden, it could be the source of fish in the floodwater.”



Khan also gave another explanation. Saadi Garden is not only flooded with surface water, he pointed out. It is possible that underground water, which also has its natural channel, erupted at the location, he said. Water from Gadap Town and its catchment areas naturally falls into Malir River, which is the natural flow, he explained.

The type of soil in the area also plays a role. Nooriabad, Gadap and Kirthar Range have sandy land surface, which absorbs water but the clay inside the surface being impermeable, recharges it and then the water erupts on the land again, said Khan, explaining a phenomenon known as ‘Geological Control’.  He felt this may have been the case in Saadi Garden and its surrounding areas as they have the same geological features.

“No doubt the stationary water in the surrounding area is also the reason behind urban flooding but recharging of underground water is one fact we cannot reject,” said Khan. This process should be kept in mind while looking into the matter of flooding at Saadi Town and surroundings in the future as well, he suggested.

Meanwhile, Karachi University’s marine biology professor Dr Pirzada Jamal Siddiqui said that the fish may have been found because the area has a history of small rainwater streams where marine life has been observed. The streams that over flooded may have brought the fish in the area, he said.

There are multiple sources of water accumulated in the area, such as several natural streams on the hills in Gadap Town, which eventually fall into Malir River, said District East deputy commissioner Asif Jan Siddiqui. A few streams may have brought the fish in the area or it might have reached here through rainwater drains, which often breed fish, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2016.