HYDERABAD: Almost the entire Sindh province experienced light, moderate and heavy spells of rainfall while civic infrastructure in the southern region was devastated by a dust and hailstorm leaving many people, most of them children, dead and injured on Tuesday.

Three children died when a powerful dust and hailstorm swept through lower Sindh areas on Tuesday leaving a trail of devastation behind. It was followed by drizzle in Hyderabad district.

Strong winds and hailstorm played havoc with the power supply network of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco).

In Kotri, a boy and two girls died as the wall of a house collapsed. They were taken to Kotri’s district hospital where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.

Upper Sindh pounded by widespread rains; southern region hit by massive power breakdown

They were identified as Farhana, 8, daughter of Ali Mardan, a resident of Muslim Town; Mohammad Yousuf, 7, son of Mohammad Hanif, a resident of Babbar Stop; and Asma, 7, daughter of Irfan Kaburo, a resident of Gulshan-i-Mubarak, Khuda ki Basti.

“The wall collapsed during the dust storm,” said Jamshoro Deputy Com-missioner Farid Mustafa. Compensation would be paid to the heirs of the deceased children as per government’s policy, he told the media.

The dust storm and hailstorm started at around 3:45pm and continued for 15 minutes. Residents of Kotri found some hailstones weighing about 250 grams and shared their photos on the social media.

A youth, Faisal Kachelo, 13, died in Mir Gul Hassan Landhi village, Kot Ghulam Mohammad. He was critically injured during the storm and was taken to a hospital where he died during treatment.

In Sanghar district, five children were injured after a wall of a house fell on them. One of them later succumbed to his injuries, media reports said. His name could not be ascertained till late in the evening.

Fida Hussain Solangi was electrocuted in Padidan town of Naushahro Feroze district. His family members took him to the area’s rural health centre where doctors pronounced him dead.

In Hyderabad city, full grown trees fell on vehicles and Hesco’s transmission lines and hoarding and billboards were blown away at many places. A massive power breakdown hit the entire lower Sindh region due to the damage to the power supply network.

Electricity supply was suspended at 3:40pm and could be restored in some districts by 7pm.

Hesco spokesman Sadiq Kubar said that a tower holding a 66kV line fell down near Mullani petrol pump in Mithi (Tharparkar district) affecting grid stations of Mithi, Islamkot, Diplo and Nagarparkar. He said that power supply was affected Hesco’s 11kV grid stations feeding Hyderabad city, which received supply from its 22kV system.

He said a large number of poles had been brought down by high velocity winds. By 7pm, only 60pc of the city had started getting power supply, he added.

In lower Sindh region, he said, electricity in the areas of Daulatpur, Daur, Qazi Ahmed, Sanghar, Matiari, Nawabshah, Saeedabad, Jamshoro, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan and Kotri towns and their adjoining areas was yet to be restored.

SUKKUR: Upper Sindh districts — Sukkur, Khair-pur, Ghotki, Kand-hkot-Kashmore, Shikarpur and Jacobabad — and vast rural areas surrounding them received widespread downpour coupled with a thunderstorm and high velocity winds in the evening.

Most areas in upper Sindh had received drizzle or light rain on Monday night. There were reports of a heavy spell of rainfall in some areas.

Power supply to all the district was suspended soon after it started raining and could not be restored till midnight, when the last reports came in.

MIRPURKHAS: A thunderstorm and strong winds followed by heavy rainfall lashed the city and many towns of Mirpurkhas district on Tuesday morning.

The winds blew away a large number of hoardings and signboards in urban areas and uprooted full grown trees in many localities of the affected towns.

The downpour lasted 30 minutes and flooded roads, streets and low-lying areas, crippling the routine life and forcing shopkeepers and vendors to pull down the shutters. Most areas wore a deserted look throughout the day and vehicular traffic went off the road.

The entire district was hit by a massive power breakdown before the power utility started energising the system some four hours after it had started raining.

The town that received downpour included Mir-wah Gorchani, Digri, Jhu-ddo, Tando Jan Moham-mad, Naokot, Kot Ghulam Mohammad, Sindhri, Hingorno, Phuladyoon, Khaan and Jhilori.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2023