Heavy showers cause flooded roads, traffic jams in Karachi

KARACHI: Some areas in Karachi faced urban flooding-like situation as heavy showers under the influence of a strong monsoon system caused inundation of major thoroughfares and arteries in the city, causing traffic jams on important roads and depriving several areas of electricity.

Surjani Town and North Karachi were the most-affected areas in the city, which received around 70 millimeters and 50mm of rain, respectively, on Thursday afternoon, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said, adding PAF Base Faisal also received around 48 millimeters of rain, causing immense traffic jams on the city’s main artery.

“Under the influence of a monsoon system, different areas of Karachi received heavy showers on Thursday afternoon and evening in two spells. During the first spell, Surjani Town received the heaviest showers where 70mm of rain was recorded, followed by 36mm of rain at PAF Base Faisal while Nazimabad received 18mm of rain,” Director Met Karachi Sardar Sarfraz said. He said during the second spell, the North Karachi area received over 50mm of rain followed by 11mm of rain at the PAF Base Faisal, while Orangi Town received 10.6mm of rain. Heavy showers in North Karachi, Nazimabad, Surjani Town and Shahrah-e-Faisal caused urban flooding like situation in these areas, he said.

Sardar Sarfraz maintained that the rain-causing monsoon system was active in the region and there were chances of moderate to heavy showers in Karachi on Friday, adding like Thursday, some areas could receive more rains as compared to others.

“Heavy rainfall may generate urban flood-like situation that we have seen yesterday in areas of North Karachi and North Nazimabad,” he added. Meanwhile, following the rain in the city, traffic jams were witnessed on Shahrah-e-Faisal, University Road, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Nishtar Road and several other arteries in the district, where roads remained inundated with rain and sewage mixed water, causing immense hardships to the people.

Hundreds of people remained trapped on roads in Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Nagan Chowrangi and North Karachi, which were flooded with rainwater. Absence of public transport due to heavy showers also added to the miseries of people.

Over 200 feeders of K-Electric tripped following rain in different areas of the city on Thursday afternoon and hundreds of thousands of people were deprived of electricity while some areas were without power till the filing of this report.