KARACHI: A man was electrocuted as the metropolis received intermittent rain with brief heavy spells on the third consecutive day on Friday wreaking havoc on the ill-maintained civic infrastructure, fragile transmission and distribution system of the K-Electric as well as the vehicular traffic on major thoroughfares.

The maximum rainfall — 66.7 millimetres or 2.62 inches — was recorded in Saadi Town.

With more rain expected today, a spokesperson for the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi announced that all inter exams scheduled for Saturday (today) had been postponed and their new date would be announced later.

The rain began in the first half of the day and continued intermittently till late in the night. Roads were submerged by rainwater in almost every part of the city, especially in the low-lying areas where desilting work on major storm-water drains was still incomplete.

Police said that a man, identified as Sajid Lodhi, 45, suffered an electric shock and died near Chapal Gali in the Lighthouse area.

Residents experience traffic jams, power failures; inter exam scheduled for today postponed

Risala SHO Amir Ikram claimed that Lodhi was a drug addict and he got electrocuted while trying to steal an electric bulb.

A spokesperson for KE said that initial findings suggested that the incident occurred inside a building where the man was electrocuted by coming into contact with internal wiring while reportedly attempting to cut the wires.

Traffic mess on city roads

The flow of traffic started slowing down within the first hour of the downpour in the first half of the day. It turned worse later and took hours to ease up due to multiple reasons including ongoing development works on some thoroughfares, non-functioning of several traffic signals and absence of traffic policemen from some intersections.

Long queues of vehicles started forming on main roads mainly due to flooding of different arteries. The Karachi traffic police through its radio services and broadcast media advised the commuters to take alternative routes.

In an advisory issued in the evening, the traffic police cited 17 key points in the city where the movement of vehicles was facing issues due to accumulated rainwater on roads.

These key points included Baitul Mukarram Masjid on University Road, NIPA, Safari Park, Safoora Chowrangi, Hassan Square, New Town, Jail Road, Sharea Faisal, Saima Mobile Mall, Rashid Minhas Road, Teen Talwar, 26 Street in Defence Housing Authority and Karsaz.

Power failures

Power supply in several parts of the city got disrupted as soon as the rain began and took hours to restore. However, K-Electric claimed that the downpour did not affect its operation to a large extent.

“Power supply to major parts of the city continues during the current rains. Power supply is ongoing through 1,769 out of 1,900 feeders,” the KE claimed in an announcement posted on its social media platforms.

“Citizens are advised to continue observing precautionary measures and maintain a safe distance from electricity infrastructure in case of a downpour to avoid any untoward incident,” a KE spokesperson added.

More rain expected today

The city’s weather is likely to remain partly cloudy with chances of light to moderate rain/thunderstorm in the next 24 hours, the Met department stated.

The minimum and maximum temperature is expected to range between 27 and 35 degrees Celsius, respectively.

“There might be heavy falls in some places on Saturday as we saw today in Saadi Town. However, the system is likely to subside by the evening and sea breeze returning to the city on Sunday,” said city weatherman Sardar Sarfaraz.

The maximum and minimum temperature recorded on Friday was 28.5 degree Celsius and 33.5 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The maximum amount of rainfall was recorded in Saadi Town at 66.7mm followed by PAF Base Faisal 58mm, University Road Met Complex 55.7mm, Airport old area 49mm, Jinnah Terminal 46mm, North Karachi 35mm, PAF Base Masroor 32mm, Surjani Town 38.8mm, Nazimabad 16.3mm, Gulshan-i-Hadeed 25mm, Keamari 12.7mm, DHA Phase II 21.2mm, Quaidabad 28.5mm and Orangi Town 16.6mm.

Administrator visits city areas

Karachi Administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab visited different parts of the city during rain. He visited Liaquatabad, Karimabad, Teen Hatti, Lasbela, Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi Gymkhana, University Road, areas in districts Malir and South to review the work to drain out accumulated rainwater.

He directed the officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to take all-out measures to drain out standing water so that it would not cause any inconvenience to the citizens and affect the flow of traffic.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2021