Widespread rains lash many Sindh districts, cause power outages
KARACHI: Widespread rains, coupled with strong winds, lashed Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Tharparkar, Sanghar, Dadu, Jamshoro, Khairpur and some other districts in Sindh on Tuesday. A few areas also received hailstorm.
The rains badly affected the power distribution networks of the Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (Hesco) and the Sukkur Electricity Supply Company (Sepco) in the affected areas. The power utilities were busy restoring supply when last reports came in at around midnight. According to reports reaching here from the interior of Sindh, power breakdowns caused by tripping of grid stations, falling of poles and wires, besides local faults, spanned two to 10 hours.
HYDERABAD: It started raining in parts of this district at around 5.15pm and continued for about half an hour bringing a pleasant change in otherwise hot weather. Hailstorm was also reported in some parts of Hyderabad city.
Skies over the district remained overcast since a dust storm swept through the area on Monday.
DADU: Parts of Dadu and Jamshoro districts received intermittent moderate to heavy spells of rain on Tuesday. Dadu city, Khudabad, Jhallo, Moundar, Amniani, Phulji Station, Pyaro Goth, Radhan, Mehar and Nau Goth as well as Khirthar Range, Karo Jabal, Gorakh Hills and Bado Jabal received torrential rains.
Rainwater passing through roads and streets of these areas brought life to a standstill as vehicular traffic disappeared and people rushed back to their homes. Markets, bazaars, commercial streets, vending stalls and shops were closed for the day.
A seven-hour power outage was caused by strong winds and rains in Dadu that caused falling of many poles. Roads and streets in the city were submerged under two to three-foot high rainwater.
The water level in the catchment area of Nai Gaaj dam also rose to about 15 feet cutting off the road link between Johi and around 200 villages located on the other side of the waterway.
In Jamshoro district, rains lashed Sehwan, Lakky Shah Saddar, Sann, Jamshoro city, Kotri and Thana Bula Khan. Water level in the channel flowing into Nai Sann pond from Ranikot fort pond rose to a height of five feet.
KHAIRPUR: The city and many other parts of the district received the first showers of the season on Tuesday when a heavy spell pounded the area for one-and-a-half hours.
All arterial roads, including Katchehry Road, Law College Road, Station Road and Civil Hospital were submerged under deluge of rainwater and caused vehicular traffic off the roads.
MIRPURKHAS: Intermittent spells of light rain turned weather in Mirpurkhas district pleasant on Tuesday amid heavily overcast skies.
Municipality workers were seen nowhere until sunset, when chance of their turning up to flush out the rainwater ended.
Routine life and business, commercial and trade activities were badly affected due to the showers while power breakdowns of several long spells disrupted water supply and drainage system.
BADIN: Many areas of Badin district, including Matli, Talhar, Badin city and Tando Bago, received light to moderate rains on Tuesday bringing down the temperature. The entire district experienced hours-long power outage.
SANGHAR: The entire district received moderate to heavy spells of rain that had started on Monday with a dust storm. Low-lying areas were submerged causing hardship to commuters and pedestrians in moving from one place to the other.
The towns that received rainfall and experienced power outages included Shahdadpur, Tando Adam, Khipro, Sinjhoro, Jam Nawaz Ali, Shahpur Chakar, Khadro and Jhol.
Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2019