KARACHI: Four people, including a minor girl, were electrocuted as moderate-to-heavy rain continued on Saturday submerging almost every major artery and paralysing life in the metropolis.

The intermittent rain that began on the night between Friday and Saturday and continued in the day had inundated roads, low-lying areas and even upscale neighbourhoods like Defence. However, work to drain out accumulated rainwater was not at par with the claims of civic organisations.

Traffic jams were witnessed on almost all major roads of the city in the evening when people were returning to their homes from their workplaces, commercial centres, shopping malls and markets which unlike Friday opened on Saturday.

Residents in many parts of the city had to spend a sleepless night because of power breakdowns in their respective localities. The situation did not change during the day as the KE acknowledged that “power supply of approximately 190 feeders has been interrupted”.

Rain inundates major roads, streets; power failures continue; monsoon system over southern Sindh has weakened

The Met Office forecast light rain for Sunday (today) and said that the maximum rainfall — 75 millimetres or 2.95 inches — was recorded in Gulshan-i-Hadeed on Saturday.

Deaths from electrocution

According to police and rescuers, a four-year-old girl, identified as Tania, died when she suffered an electric shock in Clifton’s Shah Rasool Colony. The Boat Basin police said that she was playing in the rainwater accumulated outside her home on Friday night.

In Liaquatabad, 50-year-old Malik Mohammed Sabir was electrocuted near Al-Naseer apartments on early Saturday morning.

In Baldia Town, 42-year-old Yaqeen Khan died when he suffered an electric shock near Abidabad graveyard on Saturday morning.

A 34-year-old man, identified as Asad Iqbal, died of an electric shock in Shali Goth near Bagh-i-Korangi in the morning.

Earlier on Friday, Sajid Lodhi, 45, suffered an electric shock and died near Chapal Gali in the Lighthouse area.

Rain damages roof of CHK emergency dept

Rainwater entered the newly built emergency department of the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) causing immense hardship for medical staff and patients.

A CHK official said that the roof of the newly built emergency started leaking last night following heavy rain and creating panic in doctors, nurses and patients’ attendants.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for KE said that about 1,800 of the 1,900 feeders were providing uninterrupted power supply to Karachi. “KE field teams are active and present to rectify any localised faults. Given the forecast of rain, citizens are requested to continue taking safety precautions,” he tweeted.

Light rain likely today

The Met department forecast cloudy weather with chances of light rain over the next two days as the monsoon low over Rann of Kutch and southern Sindh has weakened.

Till 8pm on Saturday, the department recorded maximum rainfall in Gulshan-i-Hadeed (75mm) followed by Quaidabad (28,5mm), Nazimabad (11.4mm), North Karachi (11mm), PAF Base Faisal (6mm), Saadi Town (5mm), PAF Base Masroor (5mm), Orangi Town (2.8mm), Jinnah Terminal (2.4mm), University Road (2.2mm), Old Airport and Surjani Town (2mm) and DHA (1mm).

The maximum and minimum temperature was 33.1 degrees Celsius and 26 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The rain made residents in the outskirts of the city, particularly those living in agricultural lands of Malir, happy as small dams had been filled with accumulated rainwater.

They said that a small dam locally known as ‘Mai Niani dam’ near Memon Goth was filled.

Similarly, another small dam created in the riverbed of Malir had also been filled with rainwater and it would help residents in cultivating crops.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2021