Children play in a pool of water that was formed after the recent spell of rain that started on Wednesday. The Met department has forecast heavy and moderate rain in different parts of the city today. PHOTO: INP
On Thursday, several areas such as North Nazimabad and New Karachi received about 55 millimetres of rainfall, while the average rainfall in the city was recorded at 40mm. At least 38mm of rain was recorded around Jinnah International Airport.
Other areas of the city such as Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Malir, MA Jinnah Road, Saddar, Clifton and parts of Korangi also received heavy showers on Thursday.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Pakistan Meteorological Department's (PMD) Regional Director for Sindh, Shahid Abbas, said that urban flooding was expected in various parts of Karachi. He said that the new spell of rains will cause flooding in areas where rainwater accumulated after the previous spells had not been cleared yet. "The low lying areas will submerge," he added.
Abbas said that high alerts regarding the recent heavy to moderate showers had already been issued to various department of the Government of Sindh.
"It will not rain across the city," said Abbas. "Scattered but heavy showers will hit various parts," the Met official added. He said that the heavy showers will not last longer than 20 minutes. "There are huge gaps among the clouds," he explained.
According to the weather advisory issued by the Met office, moderate to heavy rains are predicted for Karachi, Thatta, Badin, Jamshoro, Dadu, Sanghar, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Naushehro Feroze and Larkana districts.
On Friday, some areas of the city may receive up to 70 mm rains. The advisory said that the low lying areas will face flooding if clouds burst in particular areas.
Other parts of Sindh
The third spell of monsoon rains showered across Sindh on Wednesday evening, entailing a power blackout in the province and a recurrent submersion of dozens of villages in the coastal Thatta district. Four persons reportedly died after being struck by lightning in Tharparkar and Thatta districts.
The PMD recorded 82mm of rain in Thatta, 61mm in Islamkot taluka of Tharparkar, 39mm in Badin, 38mm and 25mm in Hyderabad, 17mm in Sukkur, 12mm in Nawabshah and 4mm in Mirpurkhas districts by Thursday morning. The amount of rain increased to 47mm and 27mm in Hyderabad, 42mm in Badin, 15mm in Larkana and Nawabshah and 13mm in Sukkur by Thursday evening.
Dozens of villages, most of which were already under water since the August 10 showers of rain, were inundated in Mirpur Sakro taluka of Thatta. The villages also witnessed a recurrent migration of the animal breeders along with their livestock.
A saline channel on the outskirts of Thatta town drowned over half a dozen villages. The residents of the villages held a protest outside Thatta Press Club on Thursday and condemned the provincial government for failing to desilt the saline drain. They claimed thousands of acres of crops have been devastated by the rain and the overflowing channel.
Two boys were struck by lightning in Mojayo village of Diplo taluka in Tharparkar district. Mumtaz Nohrio, 14 years old, and Yaseen Ashraf, 16 years old, later died. They were cousins. In another village in Diplo, 35-year-old Parma Lachman Thakur was electrocuted to death by lightning. A young man, 20-year-old Ramzan Jokhio, was electrocuted to death due to lightning in Junghshahi, a rural town.
Several villages were partially inundated in the coastal Shah Bunder taluka of Thatta. The low-lying villages in Badin district also went under knee-deep water.
The Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) acknowledged that electricity supply to all the 13 districts which it powers was affected following the rain on Wednesday evening rain. The company's spokesman, Sadiq Kubar, claimed that 95% of the electric feeders were restored by 3 am on Thursday. However, in Hyderabad district alone, reports of continued outage surfaced from the areas in more than a dozen feeders. Some areas also reported low voltage or voltage fluctuation.
Kubar said HESCO's chief executive officer Abdul Haq Memon directed all executive engineers to spend Wednesday night at the grid stations to ensure early restoration of the electric feeders. A high transmission wire fell over Hyderabad bypass disrupting the movement of traffic, according to the Motorway Police which reached out to HESCO for early removal of the wire.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2019.
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