Flooded, potholed roads, officials’ neglect prolong citizens’ misery in aftermath of rain

People of Karachi faced miseries on Saturday in the aftermaths of brief spells of afternoon rainfalls for five consecutive days.

District Central was the worst-hit area where most of the streets remained inundated with the rainwater and one of the major underpasses of the district, Nazimabad Underpass, remained flooded till late Saturday night.

According to the Met Office, it rained the most in Nazimabad on Friday with the rainfall measured at around 67.2 millimetres. Since Monday, the city had been receiving rain in the afternoon hours after the clear sky would suddenly turn overcast. The rain spell is usually brief and does not last many hours. However, the rain on Friday was heavy and lasted long in some localities compared to the rainfall of the previous four days.

Sher Shah Suri Road where six flyovers are being constructed by federal government was a nightmare for traffic, as water couldn’t be drained out from Five Star Chowrangi, Sakhi Hassan Chowrangi and KDA Roundabout. Huge ditches formed at all these intersections due to the construction of flyovers were filled with the rainwater, which authorities couldn’t drain out.

According to a resident of Nazimabad No. 4, Salman Samad, traffic in the entire area was a nightmare. “Since Friday afternoon the underpass has been closed for the traffic and no is doing anything about it,” he said.

Residents also complained that the pumps installed by the authorities were throwing water in the residential area which had flooded their streets.

According to Traffic Awareness and Social Media Unit of Karachi’s traffic police, the traffic movement was slowed down at Teen Hatti towards the Gurumandir road due to pits and ditches developed after the rainfall. “Due to rainwater at the Naziambad Underpass, the entire road is closed for traffic,” the social media unit said in a statement.

It took Arshad Khan to cross through the Nazimabad area more than one-and-a-half hours on Saturday night. “It rained on Friday afternoon and even after 24 hours the authorities have failed to drain the water out,” he said.

A resident of North Karachi’s Sector 11-A, Arsalan Ali, said that they are still trying to manage the aftermath of the recent rainfall. “The entire area is flooded with gutter water, several complaints have been made, but no one’s doing anything about it,” he said and requested authorities to take immediate measures to clean the area.

Meanwhile, an official of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) municipal department shared that the capacity of the Nazimabad Underpass to drain water itself was very weak. The official shared that pumps were installed by the district administration and the KMC, which were draining the water out from the underpass.

However, the official said that since it had been raining for the past five days, the suction pumps were also taking time to drain the water out. Apart from District Central, almost all the major thoroughfares of the city had developed ditches and potholes after the rainfall which caused traffic jams in the city.

University Road in front of Samama was also partially broken after the rainfall. The rainwater was still present in front of FTC at Sharea Faisal on Saturday.

Korangi Road was also inundated with sewage and rainwater.

District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Central chairman Rehan Hashmi and Deputy Commissioner Central Farhan Ghani Khan weren’t available for comment when contacted by The News.