KARACHI: The city received very little rain — around 2 millimetres — on Sunday yet two people died in rain-related incidents. One of them drowned while the other got electrocuted, taking the total rain-related deaths to 17 since Friday night.

Owing to Saturday’s heavy showers around the metropolis as well as the water level in the Malir river having risen considerably on Sun­day, at least two low-lying roads connecting the city with Korangi have been shut down.

Gulistan-i-Jauher SHO Chaudhry Shahid told Dawn that 24-year-old Asif was climbing a tree to catch a pigeon sitting on it when he was electrocuted. An Edhi ambulance shifted the body to a private hospital in Gulistan-i-Jauher.

Memon Goth SHO Arz Mohammad said18-year-old Shadat Mustafa drowned while swimming in a 15-foot water reservoir in Jam Goth, Malir. Rescuers managed to recover his body, police said.

This was the third downing case in two days. Baber Ali, 18, and Umair Shafi, 30, also drowned in another dam near Memon Goth on Saturday. Shafi’s body was recovered during the night and shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

The body of Baber Ali has not yet been found and according to the police, divers were still making efforts to recover the body of the teenager. The victim is said to be a nephew of a Sindh Assembly member, Sajjid Johio, who represents Malir in the assembly and has been elected on a ruling Pakistan Peoples Party ticket.

Owing to relatively heavy rains in and around the city and in the catchment area in the Khirthar Mountains, the water level in the Malir river has risen which led to the closure of a causeway that connects the Shaheed-i-Millat extension road with the Korangi Industrial Area. Another causeway, which connects the Korangi Crossing, coastal village of Ibrahim Haidery etc, with the city from the DHA side, has also been closed owing to the high water level in the Malir River flowing over the road. The closure of both the causeways had increased the traffic load on the Jam Sadiq Ali bridge.

Though the city sky remained covered with clouds the metropolis received only around 2 millimetres of rain on Sunday; the weatherman said that similar weather conditions were expected on Monday.

Gulshan-i-Hadeed and PAF Base Masroor received 2mm of rain while the rain recorded at airport was 0.8mm while only traces were reported at PAF Base Faisal and old airport.

Responding to Dawn queries, the Met official said that the maximum temperature recorded in the city on Sunday was 30.5 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature was 24 degrees Celsius and humidity — amount of moisture in the atmosphere — was 85 per cent. He said the weather in the city on Monday was expected to remain partly cloudy to cloudy with chances of thunderstorm rain.

He said that some other towns in the province that received rain on Sunday were Hyderabad (5 millimetres); Badin (6mm); Thatta (8mm); Dadu (4mm); Mithi (2mm); Moenjodaro (1mm); only traces were reported from Larkana.

Responding to Dawn queries KMC director for municipal services Masood Alam and District Municipal Corporation South administrator Naeem Sindhu said that rainwater from almost all the major roads, including M.A. Jinnah Road, I.I. Chundrigar Road, Clifton, Sharea Faisal, University Road etc had been cleared. Dewatering operation using pumps etc was in full swing to drain accumulated rainwater from the low-lying areas, including Kharadar, old city area and Chakiwara. They said that scrapping was being carried out on roads and footpaths and garbage was also being taken away and disposed off.

Officials said that special efforts were being made to drain out the stagnant water from around Wazir Mansion, the birthplace of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Various trees that had fallen down owing to rains near Tibet Centre, Lady Dufferin Hospital, Nishtar Road, Sindh Secretariat, Fatima Jinnah Road, and Bath Island had been removed and roads cleared for traffic.

They said the presence of field staff and sanitation workers was being ensured so that rainwater was drained out soon after rains and the people did not face any hardship.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2016