KARACHI: A thunderstorm coupled with heavy, moderate and light spells of rain swept through most districts of upper and central Sindh on Thursday turning weather pleasant.

Strong winds blew away roofs of countless thatched houses as well as solar panels and hoardings in the rural areas of several districts, besides causing damage to seedlings and standing crops.

Thunderstorm had battered Sukkur, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Kandhkot-Kashmore at around sunset on Tuesday causing disruption in routine life and playing havoc with the power supply distribution network of the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco). The utility was busy restoring supply to the affected areas but the situation was yet to be normalised till Thursday evening.

The areas affected by the power breakdown included Ubauro, Ghotki, Mirpur Mathelo, Daharki, Guddu Left, Khanpur Mahar, Shik­arpur, Humayun, Karampur, Kan­d­hkot, Thull, Kashmore, Jacob­abad, Garhi Yasin, Khairpur, Rohri and Sukkur city.

LARKANA: A moderate spell of rain followed by a thunderstorm lashed Larkana district in the late hours of Wednesday.

Strong winds brought down billboards and hoardings in urban areas and caused damage to thatched houses in villages.

A 50-year-old man, Roshan Ali Buriro, and his 18-year-old son, Zaheer Ahmed, died when a wall of their house in Ratodero collapsed on them due to impact of strong winds. The incident occurred in Ratodero’s Mahar Buriro village, some 30 kilometres from Larkana city. Another resident of the house, Fazeela Buriro, 17, was critically injured and admitted to the Chandka Medical College Hospital.

The rainfall in Larkana city and its adjoining areas caused disruption in power supply and flooding in low-lying areas of many union councils.

MIRPURKHAS: Different areas of Mirpurkhas district, inclu­d­ing the city, Sindhri, Hingorno, Phula­dyoon and Kot Ghulam Mohammad, as well as scores of villages received light rainfall on Thursday. The spell lasted about half an hour.

Areas within Sindhri taluka remained without power for many hours.

MITHI: Heavy to moderate rainfall lashed Mithi, Islamkot Nagar­parkar, Diplo, Chhachhro and Dahli talukas of Tharparkar district on Thursday. Strong winds that accompanied the rain uprooted a number of trees and blew away roofs of the thatched houses. However, the rainfall caused considerable drop in temperature in the otherwise extremely hot weather.

It was still raining when last reports came in from various talukas of the district late in the evening.

BADIN: The city received its first spell of pre-monsoon rainfall at about 12.20pm on Thursday. The moderate spell continued for 15 minutes. Scattered showers were also reported from Talhar, Rajo Khanani and some other areas.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2021