KARACHI: At least four persons were killed as the heaviest spell of rain during the current monsoon season wreaked havoc on the city on Tuesday, breaking past August rainfall records.

The hours-long spell started before sunrise and continued intermittently till late in the evening causing widespread flooding and bringing life to a standstill in this city of millions.

The Met office said that the city in August had received 345 millimetres, or 13.58 inches, rain so far since it started in the first week of the month breaking the 36-year-old record of 298mm recorded in August 1984.

On Tuesday, the maximum rainfall of 127mm, or five inches, was recorded at PAF Faisal Base followed by Gulshan-i-Hadeed (120mm), Saddar (83mm), Landhi (81mm), Pehalwan Goth/old area airport (79.6mm), Gulistan-i-Jauhar/University Road (78.8mm), Nazimabad/Paposh (76.6mm), Saadi Town (70.8mm), Jinnah Terminal (65.8mm), PAF Masroor Base (63mm), North Karachi (49.8mm), Surjani Town (71.9mm) and Keamari (23.6mm).

The Met office said that the rain would continue till Thursday.

Edhi divers rescue seven kids from drowning; train, flight operations disrupted; province-wide rain emergency declared

Seven children rescued

Electrocution and drowning continued to claim lives during the fresh spell of rain.

However, volunteers and divers of the Edhi Foundation won applause of area people in Mansehra Colony in Landhi when they successfully saved lives of seven children trapped in the Malir river while taking a dip to enjoy rain.

The divers kept looking for the kids for more than two hours and finally completed their job a little after sunset.

In Musharraf Colony, a 13-year-old boy drowned in a pond filled with rainwater. The body was retrieved.

A 10-year-old boy was killed and his mother suffered injuries after a wall of their home collapsed near Jogi Mor in Cattle Colony.

In Haroonabad, 17-year-old Mohammad Asif suffered an electric shock and died. The body was brought to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital.

Another unidentified young man died from electrocution near the D.J. Science College.

Chaotic scenes everywhere

The city saw extraordinary downpour along with strong winds tossing cars aside, uprooting trees and tearing down hoardings.

Waterlogged roads, fallen trees and abandoned cars added to the usual traffic mayhem in the city. The public transport almost remained suspended and train and airlines were also badly affected.

An official at the Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that many flights were cancelled and Pakistan Railways asked passengers to contact the regular inquiry before leaving home to catch their train.

People who left home for their workplaces early in the morning were stranded and unable to reach their destinations. By the second half of the day, civic life came to a grinding halt as the heavy spell of thundershowers flooded all roads and streets.

There were chaotic conditions on key roads and thoroughfares in the city as the performance of the civic agencies, including the local administration, Sindh government, DHA and the cantonment boards were exposed again by the latest spell of rain.

Videos on social media showed that knee- to waist-deep water had accumulated at several spots where a large number of vehicles broke down, creating further hindrance in the flow of vehicular traffic. Hundreds of vehicles were seen trapped in floodwater in almost every locality of the city which took over four hours to see some relief.

Deep craters and potholes, which were not visible, posed a serious threat to thousands of commuters and pedestrians wading through the water on submerged roads.

Rainwater mixed with sewage also made its way into houses in different localities, including many areas of PECHS Block 2, Bahadurabad, Alamgir Road, Maqbool Cooperative Housing Society, Karachi Memon Cooperative Housing Society, different blocks of Federal B. Area, North Nazimabad, Gulshan-i-Iqbal and several other localities. Naya Nazimabad was facing a complete flood-like situation as people waited for help from the government machinery till sunset.

See: Water, water everywhere: Karachi, Hyderabad struggle to stay afloat after two days of rain

Underpasses in districts South, Central, East and West were submerged under deep water and at some sections of Sharea Faisal three- to four-foot-deep water had accumulated.

The situation started normalising after 6pm when government efforts and a break in heavy downpour allowed the accumulated water to recede from major roads.

The social media videos also showed several markets including Arambagh, Zaibunnisa Street, Liaquatabad Supermarket, Nursery Furniture Market and Kapra Market on M.A. Jinnah Road with a number of shops and showrooms under a flood-like situation.

In Gulistan-i-Jauhar, a chilling incident of landslide was captured in a video. The landslide hit over half a dozen parked vehicles in Block 3 and completely destroyed them. No loss of life was reported.

City-wide power failures continue

Power supply system again showed no improvement and a large part of the city remained without power for hours. The power utility this time, however, said “safety reason” was the excuse to keep supply suspended.

“Power supply in some areas was immediately suspended after light rain last night and it has also been suspended in some areas where the water level is high for safety reasons,” a K-electric spokesperson said.

“Water has entered the electricity installations in Gulshan, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Bin Qasim whereas water has also entered homes in low-lying areas of the city and restoring the supply of electricity in flooded areas can be dangerous. K-Electric teams are in contact with the relevant organisations and teams are working [to restore power].”

Other utility services, including water and telecommunication, were also badly affected by the rains and the relevant agencies could not fully restore the same till late in the night.

Rain to continue till tomorrow

According to the Met department, the weather system would now likely lose its intensity gradually, though causing intermittent rain/thundershowers with a few heavy to very heavy falls till Thursday.

“This weather system persisting since August 21 has broken past August rainfall records of Karachi. So far, 345mm rainfall has been recorded at PAF Base Faisal since Aug 25,” said Met department spokesperson Sardar Sarfaraz, adding that the system had caused continued rains in Karachi except on Aug 23.

“This weather system has developed intensity following the merger of two low-pressure areas, one of which was formed over the Bay of Bengal and later moved to central India and Rajasthan while the other was over the Arabian Sea and Rann of Kutch,” he explained.

To another question, Mr Sarfaraz said though it’s not appropriate to attribute the ongoing rainfall pattern of this season to climate change in the absence of research data, the weather pattern could be described as ‘unusual’.

“This monsoon, the northern areas have so far received less than average rainfall while Sindh particularly Karachi has received above average rainfall. It’s a clear deviation from city’s general weather pattern.”

According to Mr Sarfaraz, there would likely be a break in the rainy spell from Aug 27 and Aug 29.

Murad declares rain emergency

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, in view of the incessant rainfall, declared a rain emergency in the province, instructing the chief secretary to issue the notification in this regard.

Leaves of all government employees have been cancelled and they are directed to report to their respective departments immediately.

Talking to the media on a visit to Sharea Faisal in the evening, the CM said that all low-lying areas in the city were inundated but assured that the relief operation would be completed within the shortest possible time.

“I have declared an emergency in view of the prevailing situation. We stand with the people in this time of difficulty,” he said.

The CM headed out to observe the situation in the city along with Information Minister Nasir Shah and Law Adviser Murtaza Wahab.

He directed authorities to install a dewatering system on all major roads and clear them for traffic movement using all possible resources.

Though the CM came up with assurances and issued directives for early completion of the relief operation, his key cabinet members while blaming “nature” claimed that no amount of manmade infrastructure could cater to these conditions.

They again accused the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in the centre for abandoning the provinces, which were finding it hard to meet the challenge without any financial support from Islamabad.

“Sindh is facing the harshest monsoon season of its history,” said Minister Nasir Shah in a statement. “There’s a national crisis after heavy rainfall in Sindh but the federal government has left it abandoned. The KE is again victimising Karachiites. The Sindh government assures Karachiites and people in other parts of the province that it would not leave them and stand by them till the crisis is over.”

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2020