Monsoon downpour: Rain wreaks havoc in upper Sindh

Sindh’s senior minister Nisar Khuhro directed commissioner, deputy commissioner to take steps to drain out rainwater.

SUKKUR/ HYDERABAD:

In the first heavy downpour of monsoon this season, main roads in different cities were submerged in rainwater, exposing the poor preparedness of the civic bodies. Most of the cities and towns in upper Sindh were without electricity for many hours, adding to the miseries of the people.

In Sukkur, intermittent rain started early morning and continued till 2:30pm. Most of the low-lying areas of the city were inundated, exposing the performance of the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation, which had earlier claimed that a contingency plan was in place. Similar was the situation in other cities and towns, including, Rohri, Pano Akil, Ghotki, Mirpur Mathelo, and Ubauro. In Larkana, all roads and streets were under water. According to sources, Sindh’s senior minister Nisar Khuhro took notice of the situation and directed the commissioner and deputy commissioner to take immediate steps to drain out rainwater from the city. He also directed to set-up a rain emergency cell and asked that NSUSC and municipal corporation staff be put on high alert.

The most affected farmers were the growers of date, cotton and paddy. A date grower, Haji Abdul Jaleel Memon, talking to The Express Tribune said that extensive damage has occurred to date crops in Khairpur. He said that more than 50 per cent crop was still not harvested and the rain will prove disastrous to it.

Power supply also remained suspended in most areas in the 13 districts of Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions. The Hyderabad Electric Supply Company officials confirmed that 80 to 82 feeders out of 410 in the region were shut down for safety reasons. “We have deployed 22 teams in the region to instantly address outage problems,” said Sadiq Kubar.

In Hyderabad, 13 mm rain was recorded till 5 pm. Cloth merchants in Usmania and City markets complained that stagnant sewage and rainwater had entered several shops.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2013.