Hyderabad loses power, water supply
A motorcyclist travels through water on a main thoroughfare of the city. Many areas were submerged after the rain. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Hyderabad received 79 millimetres of rainfall on Wednesday - the highest downpour in the southern Sindh region. According to the data released by Pakistan Meteorological Department, 46mm of rain was recorded in Thatta district, 45mm in Benazirabad district, 35mm in Mirpurkhas district, 32mm in Tharprkar district and 13mm in Badin district.
The rain left almost the entire region without electricity while also submerging low-lying localities in urban and semi-urban towns inundated in ankle-deep water.
An assistant lineman of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), 40-year-old Muhammad Nawaz Bathyal, died of electrocution on Thursday while working on a high tension line in Burhan Nagar area of Hyderabad.
Karachi receives rain instead of heatwave
Hesco's spokesperson, Sadiq Kubar, told The Express Tribune that Jathyal was not wearing protective gear while working. Meanwhile, the prolonged power outage also created a water shortage in many localities in Hyderabad.
Hyderabad Development Authority Director-General Masood Jumani said all the water filtration plants in Hyderabad have been shut for 16 hours because the electric supply has not been restored. "It's due to [the] electric breakdown and fault on part of Hesco," he told The Express Tribune, adding that electric supply was disrupted 28 hours ago, on Wednesday afternoon.
According to him, the Hyderabad Development Authority's subsidiary, the Water and Sanitation Agency, could not run its water supply system via its electricity generators.
Heavy Rains: Minor girl killed, four others injured
Jathyal’s relatives held a protest on the Hyderabad Bypass, blocking both sides of the road for traffic. They blamed Hesco chief Reham Ali Otho and other officers for the lineman's death.
The family later tried to lodge an FIR at Bhitai Nagar police station against Hesco's chief, executive engineer and the sub-divisional officer of the Citizen sub division but the police refused to register the case. The CEO, on his part, suspended the SDO and lineman of the Citizen sub-division.
Dozens of low-lying areas and several roads and intersections including Latifabad Unit 8, Puqqa Qila, Railway Station and Fakir Jo Pirh remained inundated in ankle-deep water even a day after the rainfall. Protests also erupted against prolonged outages in Sarfaraz Colony, Makki Shah and Latiafbaf Unit 7 areas.