Unprecedented heavy rains swamp parts of city, kill five

KARACHI: Massive rains with crackling lightning and rumbling clouds lashed Karachi on Friday, killing at least five persons and once again causing huge urban flooding in northern parts of the city with overflowing nullahs, and storm drains that eventually flooded roads and houses, in many cases up to waist deep water across Surjani Town, North Karachi, Orangi Town and dozens adjoining informal settlements.

The rain that started from 2pm continued intermittently till 8pm with varying in intensity from very heavy to moderate. The northern parts of the city that received an unprecedented 186mm heavy rains witnessed rain coming harder as sheets and twisting with the winds, leaving visibility to almost zero for a long time. As a consequence, the northern areas of Karachi, especially Surjani Town, North Karachi, Orangi Town, Nazimabad and North Nazimabad, were paralyzed and their main roads and localities quickly turned into septic tanks. As always, this resulted in hours-long traffic gridlocks stranding thousands of commuters on the main thoroughfares, including Sharah-e-Pakistan,Rashid Minhas Road, Shershah Soori Road, Siddiq Wahab Road, Shahrah-e-Usman Ramz, Shahrah-e-Shah Waliullah and others.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department said the monsoon system caused the heavy downpour. It said Surjani Town received an unparalleled 186 millimeters rain in a matter of few hours, followed by 106 millimeters in the adjoining North Karachi and Nazimabad areas. It forecast that intermittent rain would continue throughout Saturday evening with moderate to heavy showers. Another heavy rain spell is expected to hit lower Sindh, including Karachi, in the coming week from Monday to Wednesday, the Met Office warned. The met pundits warned of urban flooding and advised people and authorities to exercise due caution and preparedness as heavy showers could further aggravate the situation in different parts of the economic hub. This monsoon season has caused the mega city to experience disastrous urban flooding and needless life loss as the city managers fought among themselves as what to do.

Tragedy struck at least five families on Friday when five teenagers died in rain-related incidents, police and rescue services officials said. Two of the teenagers died when they were hit by lightning in Memon Goth, while two people were electrocuted and one teenage was swept away by the ferocious currents of the surging currents of Lyari River

Surjani and the adjoining areas which bore the brunt of the heavy showers of over 186 millimeters were also flooded in addition to the overflowing Hub Canal which brings water to Karachi from the Hub Dam. It submerged roads and the water entered into some residential projects near the Northern Bypass and the Noorani Hotel.

The situation was not any different in Orangi Town, Manghopir, Baldia Town and Frontier Colony where sewage-mixed rainwater swamped houses with heavy downpour. The shops and warehouses in some of these areas had kept edibles stored which were seriously damaged by the raging four to five feet deep water.

The heavy downpour caused the recently cleared Gujjar Nullah to once again overflow like the other storm water drains in North Karachi and Liaquatabad, which not only inundated roads but also damaged properties leaving the residents afflicted with deep misery. In the area one could see dozens of cars, motorcycles and other vehicles submerged in the four to five feet deep.

The commuters faced yet another worst day, when hundreds of their vehicles failed to go anyway ahead and got stuck on various roads leading to Nagan Chowrangi, North Karachi, Nazimabad and North Nazimabad. Dozens of motorists and bike riders were found pushing their vehicles while wading through the surging water towards their destinations fearful of snapped wires or manholes. The resulting snarled traffic amidst five to six feet of water, complicated problems for other commuters who remained stranded at bottlenecks for hours.

Almost the entire worst rain swamped North Karachi, Surjani, Manghopir, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad and adjoining areas suffered double whammy as hundreds of thousands of houses and buildings lost electricity following the first drop of rain. Like always almost the entire 200 feeders of power utility tripped and many areas began reporting transmission faults as early as 2 pm. The power had not returned to most of the worst affected parts till this story was being filed.

The KE’s response was that they had to shut down electricity to Orangi Town, Sohrab Goth, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, Liaquatabad, Baldia town due to water logging. It said the KE teams continued to be available 24/7 for addressing faults and complaints and also advised caution to the consumers.