A day of misery

After the rain wreaked havoc in the city, several commuters who were making their way back towards home were stuck in traffic and rainwater on roads on Monday.

Haniya Javed, who works in Agha Khan Hospital, left for her home around five in the evening but couldn’t make it to her home until 7pm. “There was so much water on roads that we couldn’t leave our workplace,” she said.

Vehicles were stuck in traffic for hours on Sharea Faisal at Karsaz, Baloch Colony Flyover, Drigh Road and Natha Khan Flyover. Although there were suction pumps installed, the rainwater couldn’t be drained out quickly, according to Waqas Sarwar, who was going to his home in North Karachi from Defence. He had to turn his car and decided to stay at his friend’s house in Defence.

The same was the case with Zeeshan Khan Zada, who lives in Malir’s Model Colony. “I simply couldn’t enter my street. It was completely flooded with rainwater,” he said and added that he had to stay at his Khala’s [aunt’s] home in Shah Faisal. The entire road from Power House Chowrangi till Nagan Chowrangi was flooded with rainwater. Shahnawaz Qadri, resident of North Karachi’s Two Minute Chowrangi, complained that no official of the Sindh government or the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) paid a visit to their area.

“While I was coming back to him, I couldn’t cross Nagan Chowragi,” he said and added that it was not a safe ride on a bike in the flooded street. “There are open manholes and K-Electric’s wires.”

Citizens took to social media to express their anger against prolong power breakdown, traffic jams and standing water in various parts of the city during and after the downpour.

Ali Rehman complained about the major breakdown in the Korangi area. “Power outage in Korangi since the first drop of the rain touched the ground.”

“Lights out since 1. Can you help @KElectricPk,” Abdullah Zahid asked.

Syed Adnan Asrar tweeted: “Wish I could utter the same excuses in very same wording, every month, when it comes to paying the hefty electricity bill which comes with a fine in case of a late payment ... Seriously I want to read my consumer rights. If I have any.”

“How many years have u had technical difficulties during rain? But u don't seem to build the infrastructure so that there will be no power outage in karachi. Absolutely pathetic,” a person, namely zz, said on tweeter.

Pardeep Kumar said: Karachi looks like a beach even after a few seconds of moderate rain.”