Karachi continues to reel from Thursday’s unprecedented downpour

Following Thursday’s unprecedented downpour, Karachi continued to remain paralysed on Friday as most of the thoroughfares and underpasses of the city were submerged by rainwater. The roads that were drained, however, were either completely broken or had sunk in, and thus rendered useless for any vehicle.

A massive communication crisis also emerged because electricity could not be restored to more than 80 per cent of the city, while various mobile phone operators’ networks and the PTCL’s system were severely affected.

Residents of various neighbourhoods across the city faced losses running into hundreds of millions of rupees after the day-long heavy rain damaged their properties, including their homes and vehicles.

Business hub

II Chundrigar Road, which is considered Karachi’s business hub, continued to be inundated with three to four feet of water. There was no apparent possibility of entering the Pakistan Stock Exchange or the State Bank of Pakistan without using a boat.

Those who had reached their offices on Thursday were either stuck there or had to be rescued by the Edhi Foundation’s boats or trucks. Several banks had arranged hotel stays in District South for their employees who could not return home.

The Edhi Foundation even transported several staffers stuck at work on Friday morning. Saad Edhi said three to four feet of water had accumulated in front of the HBL Plaza, where their rescue boats continued their operations. A pregnant woman with labour pains was also taken from Kharadar to the Kutiyana Memon Hospital in their boat.

Saddar and the old city areas remained flooded with rainwater, while several markets were also swimming in three to four feet of water, causing the shopkeepers losses of millions of rupees. Large potholes were discovered on Club Road, Gulbahar Road, Aiwan-e-Sadar and in the adjoining streets after rainwater was drained.

Karachi Electronics Dealers Association President Mohammad Rizwan said they have suffered losses between Rs1 billion and Rs1.5 billion during the current monsoon season. He said they have shops at Nursery, in Saddar, the old city areas and several other parts of the city, and all of them are completely inundated with rainwater.

He lamented that they are yet to recover from the losses they had suffered due to the lockdown against local transmission of the novel coronavirus, and now they are faced with another major crisis because of the unprecedented rains.

He said that due to security measures, all their shops in Saddar and the old city areas are sealed, so they are unable to clean their shops.

“On Monday when we’ll open our shops, we’ll come to know of the exact loss,” he said, fearing that by then the electrical appliances inside their shops would be useless.

Upmarket areas

Among the worst-hit areas of the city were the upmarket DHA, Clifton and PECHS neighbourhoods, which were completely submerged by rainwater. The Defence Housing Authority and the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) failed to drain water in their respective jurisdictions.

Rainwater could not be drained from Khayaban-e-Muhafiz, Khayaban-e-Hafiz and Khayaban-e-Ittehad. The Punjab Chowrangi underpass was also flooded and closed for traffic. For the first time, even the footpaths in DHA Phase-VIII were covered with rainwater. “The water drained an hour after the rain ended,” said a DHA Phase-VIII resident. “Never have I ever seen this much water in DHA.”

DHA residents complained of suffering losses of millions of rupees as not only was their expensive furniture destroyed by rainwater mixed with sewage that entered their houses but several of them found their cars completely submerged or swept away by the floods.

Mudaser, a resident of the Shahbaz Commercial Area, complained that the DHA and the CBC could not drain the rainwater from several major streets even by Friday evening. He said they had three to four feet of water at their ground floor, which had destroyed all their furniture, carpets, curtains and electrical appliances.

Collapsed roads

Several major roads of the city collapsed and sunk in at different spots, making it almost impossible for any vehicle to ply on them.

A massive pothole formed on Club Road near the Hotel Metropole, while in Pehlwan Goth, just opposite the Habib University, the road was swept away in floods.

A pit was observed under the Hassan Square Flyover on University Road. Sharea Faisal also had several pits at different points, including Drigh Road. The Drigh Road underpass remained flooded until Friday evening. In Gulistan-e-Jauhar, patches of road had disappeared from various areas after the downpour.

Other localities

In the Central and West districts, rainwater could not be drained from various areas. The Nagan Chowrangi area remained flooded and traffic had to be diverted. Residents of Yousuf Goth and Surjani Town were left with no option but to leave their houses to find safety.

West Deputy Commissioner Saleemullah Odho said the situation in Orangi Town was under control, but the areas on the bank of the Orangi storm water drain were affected, so a few families were rescued and shifted to a school in Mominabad.

As for Yousuf Goth, he said there was more than five feet of water after the downpour, which had reduced to two feet by Friday evening. If it does not rain any more, he added, the situation would normalise by Saturday.

About the different villages in the far-flung parts of the district, he said that several families were rescued and relocated due to the floods. Four hundred people were rescued from the Mai Gari and Noor Muhammad villages near the Northern Bypass.

The Edhi Foundation rescued as many as 150 families from Naya Nazimabad. Saad Edhi said the area was drowned in nine feet of water, adding that they arrived with three boats and two mid-size pickup trucks. “The rainwater gushed into the area from the mountains adjacent to Naya Nazimabad.”

He said the residents were stuck on the first floors of their houses, and those who did not have first floors had spent the nights under the open sky on their rooftops. “We rescued women, children and the elderly.”