Wahab pins Karachi torrential rain damage on climate change

Heavy downpour inevitably causes flooding, says mayor referring to destruction in K-P, G-B

KARACHI:

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday said the city’s recent downpour was part of the wider challenge of climate change, which has also caused destruction in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir in recent days.

Addressing a press conference, he said global warming and climate change were a reality and a test for administrations worldwide, citing the situations in New York, Dubai and Mumbai.

The mayor said the heavy rains left residents facing difficulties, with criticism and political point-scoring further exacerbating the situation. He noted that Karachi’s stormwater drains have a capacity of only 40mm. “When rainfall exceeds this amount, consequences become evident,” he said.

“Yesterday, Karachi also witnessed torrential rains,” he said, adding that two spells hit the city on the same day, with the first beginning in the morning. He said drainage efforts were launched once the rain subsided and conditions on main roads had improved by 12.30pm.

Read: Second spell of rain hits Karachi

A second spell struck around 1.15pm, continuing non-stop until early Wednesday morning, according to Wahab. Manghopir received 235mm of rain, while more than 170mm was recorded across the city in 12 hours.

He urged citizens to avoid unnecessary travel and warned that the biggest challenge during rescue operations was maintaining traffic flow.

While climate change is undoubtedly intensifying extreme weather events, the misery faced by Karachi’s citizens stems less from nature’s wrath and more from the city’s decayed governance and poor infrastructure. In a metropolis of over 20 million, drains remain clogged with garbage, roads collapse after a few hours of rain, and underpasses turn into death traps.

At least a dozen people lost their lives in the latest spell of monsoon rains, most from electrocution and house collapses.

Unlike northern Pakistan, where recent rains triggered flash floods and landslides, Karachi’s fatalities were largely the result of urban management failures — exposed wires, open drains, weak housing structures and inadequate drainage systems — underscoring the city’s vulnerability to preventable tragedies.