KARACHI: Three people died from electrocution as the fresh spell of heavy downpour paralysed life across Karachi on Sunday dealing a blow to the fragile infrastructure of the metropolis, which was already under severe strain.

The heavy rains led to flooding in all low-lying areas inundating key roads and playing havoc with the city’s ill-maintained sewerage system.

Just minutes after the rainfall, which started early in the morning, the city infrastructure started to collapse in coping with the emerging situation.

Heavy rains inundated three city underpasses, according to officials.

A traffic police spokesperson said that rainwater had entered underpasses and therefore, KPT, Submarine and Mehran hotel underpasses had been closed to traffic.

Underpasses closed after over five inches of rain

With a severely damaged drainage system, the city administration started efforts to drain out rainwater through alternative sources by deploying more human resources for manual cleaning of roads and thoroughfares and at some points mobile pumping stations were set up to drain out water.

However, the efforts fell short due to non-stop rains which continued for more than 12 hours with a few breaks.

Under severe conditions, a part of a dilapidated bridge over Malir River, connecting the city road with the National Highway, caved in which led to suspension of traffic on one track of the key link.

Electrocutions

Three people were killed in rain-related incident in the city, according to police and hospital officials.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said that the body of a man identified as Shan Husain, 40, was brought from Lea Market near Memon Masjid at Civil Hospital Karachi at 1pm.

The cause of the death was electrocution, said Dr Syed and added that he suffered an electric shock at his home.

Surjani Town SHO Haji Sana­ullah

said that three friends tried to charge mobile phone in Taiser Town, when one of them aged arou­nd 35, got an electric shock and died. The body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH).

In another incident, 17-year-old Zia Saqib received an electric shock near Sheesh Mahal in Liaquatabad-5 and died, said Dr Summaiya Syed.

The body was brought at the ASH to fulfil medico-legal formalities.

Four hurt in roof collapse

A couple and their two children were injured when a roof of their house collapsed in Baldia Town on Sunday night.

An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said the four family members came under debris of a roof that fell down in Daud Goth near Pakistan Chowk.

The couple namely Mr Nadeem, 35 and Ms Pathani, 25, and their two children, Seema, five, and Krishna, two, were injured and taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi for treatment.

Police said continued rains also caused a breach in a river in Rozi Goth of Surjani Town where the police authorities and the administration were present to control the situation.

KU, BIEK cancel exams

The situation turned worrisome and announcements started to pour in from different institutions about suspension of their planned activities and events on Monday [today].

The University of Karachi was the first to announce postponement of all exams scheduled for July 25, followed by a statement from Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) informing students about cancelling the practical exams scheduled for July 25 due to the heavy rains.

Rain to continue today

The fresh moves from the government and educational institutions were in sync with the advice of the meteorological department which warned in its advisory that the trend of heavy rains was likely to continue for the next couple of days in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

The strong monsoon currents that penetrated in Sindh on Saturday night would prevail till July 26-27, said the Met office.

“Under the influence of this weather system, widespread rain-wind/thunderstorms with scattered heavy/very heavy falls (extremely heavy at times) are likely in Tharparkar, Umarkot, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando M Khan, Tando Allayar, Hyderabad, Matiari, Sanghar, Nawabshah, Khairpur, Sukkur, Larkana, Jacobabad, Dadu, Jamshoro, Shikarpur, Qambar Shahdadkot, Ghotki and Kashmore districts and Karachi division from today to July 26-27.”

By 8pm, Quaidabad received the highest amount of rainfall ie 96 millimetres, followed by Surjani Town (82mm), Keamari (79mm), Gulshan-i-Hadeed (78mm), DHA Phase II (70.5mm), PAF Masroor Base (77mm), Saddar (62mm), North Karachi (60mm), Orangi Town (57.5mm), PAF Base Faisal (51mm), Nazimabad (50mm), Gadap Town (49.6mm) Saadi Town (39.6mm), Gulshan-i-Maymar (36.9mm), Met office University Road (36.8mm), Old Airport (33mm) and Jinnah Terminal (32mm).

Power outages

Amid continued downpour and flooding, the city faced another challenge of a severed power supply system.

A number of citizens in different localities complained to Dawn about power outages.

The city’s sole power utility, K-Electric, cited ‘safety reasons’ for power outages in many areas.

“Moderate to heavy rainfall continues across various parts of Karachi under the current monsoon spell,” said the K-Electric spokesperson.

“Power supply to the city continues to remain stable, and at this time, approximately 100 feeders out of 1,900 have been powered down mostly for safety reasons. Areas affected are majorly those where risk of water logging or high prevalence of kundas makes use of safety protocols unavoidable.”

The power utility also “requested” the people to maintain a safe distance from electricity infrastructure.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2022