KDA declares rain emergency, cancels leave

KARACHI:

The Karachi Development Authority’s Director General Syed Mohammad Ali Shah has declared a rain emergency in the KDA’s townships and schemes across the metropolitan city.

Chief Engineer Nadeem Iqbal presided over a meeting of senior officers at the Civic Centre on the instructions of the KDA’s DG to review the situation.

Executive engineers of all schemes, director admin engineering and other officers attended the meeting.

While speaking in the meeting, the chief engineer said that the leaves of KDA’s concerned officers and employees have been cancelled in view of the expected rains.

The KDA DG has also ordered that timely measures must be ensured to deal with emergency situations, he added.

Chief Engineer Iqbal said that all KDA engineers should keep a close watch on the situation arising from the expected rains in their respective schemes and be prepared to deal with any situation with machinery and manpower.

He added that timely cleaning of drains and unclogging of blocked drains should be urgently ensured.

He further said that director of State and Enforcement must use full resources to remove encroachments around the drains. He warned that negligence will not be tolerated in this regard as he said that liaison between all concerned officers should be strengthened.

Meanwhile, Sardar Sarfraz, Chief Meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), said that a new system of westerly winds has entered Balochistan, which has already brought rains in Pano Aqil and Ghotki districts of rural Sindh.

Interestingly, the PMD had earlier predicted a drizzle or light rain in the city from Thursday evening till night. However, the weather remained clear for most of Thursday.

The highest temperature was 33.7 degrees Celsius, 2 degrees down from the day before, while humidity in the air remained at 52 per cent.

The fresh forecast from PMD’s Early Warning Centre states that Friday will be partly overcast with chances of rain and thundershowers. However, there is a possibility of rain throughout the day on Saturday with an expected maximum temperature of 32 to 34 degrees Celsius.

Chief Meteorologist Sarfraz stated that another westerly system was expected 48 hours after the present one has passed, but it would not impact Karachi.

The circulation of winds in the Arabian Sea near Iran and Oman, according to Meteorological Update Pakistan (MUP), a nongovernmental meteorological organisation, is also travelling towards the southern region of Pakistan.

Most areas of the city are likely to experience light to moderate rain, while certain locations may experience spells of two to three severe downpours.

Jawad Memon of the MUP said that Karachi might receive 30 to 50 mm of rain during this system.

Some parts of Karachi might witness hailstorms if thunderclouds with heavy clouds develop, he said.