Raindrops keep falling; Upper Sindh receives first rainfall of the season

Larkana, Sukkur and Karachi expected to receive rain in the next 24 hours

SUKKUR: Residents of upper Sindh received a visitor on Monday morning – the first cold shower of the season.

The weather turned colder but remained pleasant in most areas, including Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur and Larkana. Streets in Rohri, Pannu Aqil, Ghotki, Sukkur, Mirpur Mathelo, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Naushero Feroz, Larkana and Dadu, were clogged and many people complained that there was no electricity in their neighbourhoods as the rain kept pouring.

The residents claimed that this was the first proper rainfall in their area and, before this, they had only  a little drizzle.

The rain started early in the morning and continued till noon, coupled with heavy showers and thunder.

Many children were unable to make it to school on time as there was no electricity and the rainwater had made it difficult to travel.

In Khairpur, one of the heavy duty transformers at the city grid station, T-2,  developed a technical fault due to the rain. As a result, power supply to five feeders of the city including Dargah Rampuri Sarkar feeder, Old Shah Latif University feeder, Loung Fakir feeder, Panj Hati feeder and Nareja feeder, was suspended. Officials from the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) said that there was a fault in the transformer, adding that it would take 48 hours or even more to restore power supply.

In Sukkur, power supply to most of the city's feeders was suspended as soon as it started to rain, which according to the Sepco officials was due a problem with the conductors. Electricity was restored in some places around 2:30pm, while many feeders were out of service. Sepco officials said they were busy fixing the problem.

Not everyone, however, suffered because of the rain. According to the general secretary of the Sindh Abadgar Board in Kashmore, GM Khoso, the rainfall was quite beneficial for the standing wheat crop. "This rain is just what the farmers were waiting for," he said while talking to The Express Tribune. "The wheat crop is in its last stage so a lot of rain could have been bad but we have received a good amount."

According to the meteorological department, Rohri, Moen Jo Daro, Larkana, Jacobabad and Sukkur received around 34mm of rainfall altogether. In the next 24 hours, Larkana and Sukkur are expected to receive more rain, while light rainfall is expected in Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.