• Chaos as thousands stranded on flooded roads
• Over 20 flights cancelled as Karachi has receiveed 3.26 inches of rain since Saturday evening
• CM unhappy with civic authorities’ delayed response

KARACHI: Three people were killed and scores injured as heavy rain that began on Saturday and continued intermittently on Sunday wreaked havoc on fragile and neglected infrastructure of the metropolis as civic bodies also failed to drain out the rainwater from major roads, underpasses, and low-lying neighbourhoods well in time.

Thousands of motorists were compelled to leave their vehicles on roads and had to walk home as all thoroughfares were submerged by rainwater.

Flights operations in the city were also badly affected as around 20 flights had been cancelled since Saturday evening.

Although the city administration claimed to have acted swiftly soon after the downpour began on Saturday evening, many city roads and areas remained inaccessible to road users and were flooded till Sunday evening.

The rain which started in the evening on Saturday continued with frequent breaks till Sunday afternoon bringing back cold wave to Karachi.

Till afternoon PAF Masroor Base had received the highest count of 83 millimetres of rain.

Father of five among three killed in deluge

Two men died while five others, including two women,were injured in rain-related incidents in the metropolis since Saturday night, police and rescue service said on Sunday.

A factory worker, Syed Fakhre Alam, drowned after he fell in a rainwater-filled nullah in Baldia-2 on Saturday night. His body was recovered on Sunday morning.

The police said that the victim had left his factory and was on his way home in Baldia Town when he slipped and fell in the nullah. His body was found from a short distance from the place of the incident. The deceased was father of five children.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said that a man, identified as Bashir Khan, 32, drowned in accumulated rainwater in Manghopir. The body was brought to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital but his relatives took away without completing medico-legal formalities. Police said that the victim was suffering from epilepsy.

In another incident, a teenager died after suffering an electric shock in Lines Area on Saturday night.

An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said the victim, 19-year-old Dilawar Ahsan, died when he suffered an electric current near a bakery in Jutt Line. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

‘Unusual rain in February’

The Met department said although the fresh spell of rain wasn’t the heaviest in February, it was ‘unusual’ considering the past record.

“In February we don’t see such intensity of rains in Karachi,” said Sardar Sarfaraz Ahmed of the met office.

“But it wasn’t the record spell of February. In 1979 and then in 1990s the city received much heavier spells compared to the latest one. The trend seems over with only chances of drizzle for the next few hours. It would definitely bring temperature down which is likely to stay between 12 and 14 during nights.”

With rains flooding the streets and frail infrastructure of Karachi, social media were abuzz with footage and pictures by Karachiites showing status of their areas after the downpour.

Key road links like Sharea Faisal, Sher Shah Suri Road, Shahra-i-Pakistan, Tariq Road, Gizri Road and several other prominent thoroughfares were submerged by rainwater leaving hundreds of people stranded after their vehicles became stuck in different areas.

The non-deployment of traffic police personnel on roads made the bad situation worse with collapse of traffic system as on one was there to control the chaos and to help out stranded motorists.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab claimed that ‘timely action’ had been taken by the city administration to deal with the emerging situation, adding that the situation had been ‘brought under control’ within few hours.

He also paid KMC workers compliments and praised their swift performance and ‘tireless efforts’.

Traffic police, town chairmen earn Baqar’s ire

However, a meeting at CM House suggested things otherwise. Chairing the meeting, caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar said all was not well and sounded unsatisfied with the disaster management operations in the city.

The CM took serious notice of the absence of DIG traffic when all the traffic was blocked almost on all main arteries of the city.

He added that traffic police failed to manage the traffic in time, therefore the people of the city suffered a lot.

Justice Baqar directed the inspector general of police, Riffat Mukhtar, to issue a letter to the DIG Traffic and convey him his displeasure.

“I am not happy with traffic management in the city, particularly on Saturday evening,” he said.

The mayor of Karachi told the CM that presently all the main arteries of the city were clear and traffic was plying smoothly, however, dewatering work was in progress in some areas. The drainage system was being improved by clearing gutters and conduits, he said.

During the meeting, it was observed that the PDMA had failed to respond in time. They sent the pumping motors and other machines very late, therefore water could not be drained out from low-lying areas well in time.

The CM said that the director general of the PDMA should have been present on roads to help the local bodies.

The CM directed his secretariat to issue a ‘letter of displeasure’ to the DG PDMA and directed him to ensure the provision of functional machinery to the local bodies.

In the meeting, it was also noticed that most of the town chairmen failed to serve their areas during the rain emergency.

The CM said that it was unacceptable, and all the elected local bodies chairmen and councillors must serve the people of their areas in close coordination with other agencies.

He directed the mayor to coordinate with all the town chairmen so that issues of this city could be resolved, particularly in such emergencies as Saturday’s heavy rain.

Power outages

Several parts of the city also witnessed power outage after the Saturday and Sunday’s rains.

The KE though claimed that the power supply to Karachi was normalised following heavy rain.

“As per emergency safety protocols, power supply to low-lying areas or those with a high prevalence of kundas was temporarily suspended. These were gradually energised once weather subsided, following clearance from field teams. KE teams remain in close contact with city authorities,” said the power utility statement.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024