Rain drain

As if a tsunami had hit Karachi on Sunday. Here, there and everywhere, it was just water — on the roads and streets, into the houses and shops, and inside the stranded vehicles. Not just the impoverished and neglected areas of the city, but many upscale ones too were also inundated. People half-submerged in the rainwater was a common sight nearly everywhere in the city, illustrating the extent of the rain misery. The city — at places — looked like a river flowing speedily downstream. Vehicles parked on roads and streets failed to stand their ground and were floating on the gushing water, literally like toys. Several people were also swept away. At least two — a 27-year-old motorcyclist and a boy, 5 — fell into the drains in Orangi and Korangi respectively, only to be retrieved as breathless corpse after hours. There were six more deaths, of electrocution. To add to the woes, the flooded city went powerless too — with many neighbourhoods remaining out of power for as many as 12 hours.

Long gone are the days when Karachiites would relish rains. This heavenly blessing now only brings curse for the citizens of this most modern city of Pakistan. Year after year, we see the country’s financial hub succumb to even small amounts of rain. This third spell of monsoon, for instance, poured just about 20mm to 80mm of rain — as recorded in different parts of the city — but it triggered a hell lot of fury. The first and second spells of the current monsoon season were even less intense, sending down just about 40mm and 60mm rain respectively. For comparison, the Mumbai monsoon fury of July 26, 2005 had unleashed 944 mm rainwater in a single day. The loss of valuable lives and properties to rain-induced flooding in the city every monsoon is not enough for the authorities to focus on how to redress the situation. While the whole civic infrastructure needs to be revamped and repaired, most urgent attention must be paid to the city’s choked drains. Rain, with no drain, is what causes much of the trouble.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2020.

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