City faces devastating damage due to thunderstorm

Mayor claims emergency centre fully functional during rainfall, complaints received were addressed

KARACHI: The citizens were caught off guard after the city received a heavy downpour on Monday, as roads were immediately flooded, several neighbourhoods plunged into darkness due to power breakdown and many trees on streets fell due to the thunder storm.

Ever since it started raining on Monday afternoon, the count stood at 36mm until Tuesday evening. Even though the rain count seems low, it has done devastating damage to the city. Several old trees were uprooted and bill boards fell on main thoroughfares in the city.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), rainfall will continue till Wednesday night, after which the system of rain will lose its strength.



Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar claimed that main thoroughfares of the city were cleared of rainwater, yet some choking points were inundated, for which suction pumps were deployed at those locations.

Old trees in the vicinity of CM House and other parts of District South, Old City area, North Nazimabad, Khalid Bin Waleed Road, Shaheed-e-Millat Road fell down, which resulted in road blockage. The municipal authorities, through the help of their machinery, removed them.

"A tree of my neighbour's house fell on two of my cars parked outside my house," said Muhammad Ali, a resident of North Nazimabad Block N. He added that after the rain stopped, Ali went out and saw that the tree also broke an electricity pole, which resulted in power failure.

He claimed that upon complaining to the staff of K-Electric, municipal authority and District Municipal Corporation (DMC) East, the authorities came with their machinery to remove the mess on Tuesday morning.



Mayor visited the Rain Emergency Centre in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Sports Complex on Tuesday morning to review the complaints that were received after the heavy rainfall the night before. DMC East Chairperson Moeed Anwer, City Council Finance Committee Chairperson Nadeem Hidayat Hashmi, Parks Committee Chairperson Khurram Farhan, adviser to mayor Farhat Khan, Technical Services Director-General Shahab Anwer and other officers were also present on the occasion.

While talking to the media, the mayor claimed that the emergency centre was fully functional during Monday night's rainfall and all the complaints received from the citizens were addressed. He said that many trees and poles fall due to the strong breeze and heavy downpour. They were lifted and removed by the parks department team, whereas drainage of rainwater from underpasses was done to save people from any kind of inconvenience.



The mayor said that he had been in contact with K-Electric regarding restoration of electricity supply in some areas which were affected due to power breakdown after the rain, while the restoration process is under way. He added that all relevant municipal staff and machinery had been kept in functional state to ensure swift action against any complaints regarding rain.

Residents in surrounding areas of Gujjar Nullah fear that although till now things are under control, but if it continues to rain then the water level may rise.