Karachi rain misery
As ever, we were caught unprepared. While the authorities were still in the middle of clearing the major choked drains and making other rain preparations, the gathering dark clouds over Karachi burst early Monday morning. Thankfully, this first rain of the monsoon season in the mega city was only moderate – between 1 and 5 mm rain fell within the city while it measured 17mm on the outskirts in Gulshan-e-Hadeed – serving the relevant authorities with a wake-up call, as it is just the beginning of the season.
However, compared to the small amount of rain, the accompanying misery was still bigger. While major city arteries were by and large clear, the rainwater did accumulate at several places in the city, primarily due to broken roads and choked sewerage lines. Old city areas were particularly affected. Much of the business centres remained closed. The cattle market, set up on the outskirts of the city for sale of sacrificial animals, was in a deep mess. It was all mud and filth that caused problems for the animals and their keepers, besides the small number of people who did visit the market despite the rain. There were also reports of interruption in the flow of traffic due to the rainwater.
Power breakdown though was as painful as ever. The electricity supply to much of the city got disturbed literally from the first drop of rain. It was in fact the early morning power failure that broke the news of the first rain of the season in Karachi to the slumbering citizens. More than a third of the power feeders, according to K-Electric, were affected. The supply was not restored to as many as 12 hour, in some cases. There were also reports of at least one person losing life due to a severed live wire in Al Falah Society. Much has been written on the subject of rain misery and the citizens of Karachi. So much as that the whole cahce of vocabulary has been exhausted in an attempt to drive the point home. The authorities must get their act together.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2021.
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