Calamity-hit province: Hyderabad gets 158mm in 15 hours, helicopter rescues start

Two tehsils completely submerged, evacuations continue .

HYDERABAD: The city received 158 millimetres (mm) of rainfall in 15 hours on Tuesday.

Latifabad and Qasimabad tehsils were the worst-affected areas besides the Hyderabad Rural tehsil. A spokesman for the Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company, Sadiq Kubar, feared that the three important grid stations, Latifabad, Qasimabad and NTPS, would shut down if there was more rain.

“The grid stations have the capacity to bear up to 3 feet of water,” he said. All three stations are surrounded by areas where there is already two feet of water. He said that the situation will worsen if water from the Wadu Wah Canal continues to overflow.

Tharparkar

Four people since Monday died in relief camps. Residents of Naukot continued to leave the area. Flood survivors living in Mehran Camp, which is the largest camp of the district, said there had been no drinking water for two days.

The district government of Tharparkar is hosting 18,954 locally displaced people in its 191 relief camps. According to government estimates 21,000 migrants are living without proper shelter in the Mithi and Diplo tehsils.

Thar DCO Makhdoom Shakeel and MNA Dr Mahesh Malani decided to set up a tent city in the Kaloi area.  The highest amount of rain was recorded in the Nangarparker tehsil, 136mm, and the next was Mithi tehsil, with 75mm.

Sanghar

Truckloads of people continued to evacuate the area for Hyderabad and Thatta district. The World Food Programme carried on the distribution of ration bags in Badin. “The UN has also mobilised 4,000 volunteers in Sindh, especially in Badin,” said the leader of the emergency flood response team, Dr Salman Safdar.

The agencies will initially provide food and water, sanitation, health and shelter followed by long-term engagement in the rehabilitation process.

Colonel Aijaz Rao told The Express Tribune that the corps commander ordered a helicopter service to rescue people. “We will conduct 8 to 10 sorties per day and also drop relief goods in inaccessible areas,” said Rao. The Pakistan Army will also begin the distribution of rations. According to Rao more than 1,500 people have been rescued so far.

The city received heavy downpour from 3 pm to 10 pm on Monday. The exact figure is unknown since there is no observatory in the area.

TM Khan, Dadu and Noshehro Feroze

Tando Muhammad Khan received 130mm of rain in less than 20 hours between Monday and Tuesday. Five more people have died and the number of people affected has reached 250,000. Tando Ghulam Hyder tehsil was worst affected.

Runoff from the Kirthar mountains submerged over 160 villages in Sehwan and Manjhand tehsils in Dadu district. About 150mm of rain was recorded there.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th,  2011.