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Thursday March 28, 2024

Heavy rains ruin Eid celebrations, wreak havoc in DHA, Clifton and old city areas

By Oonib Azam
July 13, 2022

Heavy rains in Karachi since the wee hours of Monday have wreaked havoc in different parts of the city, especially its affluent areas of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton.

Many other areas of the megacity as well remained submerged in rainwater, making it nearly impossible for the people to enjoy their Eid-ul-Azha holidays and carry on with their day-to-day activities.

To top it all off, piles of offal lying on the streets were swept away by the gushing rainwater, clogging drains, which slowed down the process of drainage. The electricity supply to most areas of the city was also suspended for several hours, especially in DHA where until the filing of this story many phases were devoid of power.

District South’s old city areas of Kharadar, Mithadar, Cloth Market and Bolten Market, PIB Colony and Lyari continued to be inundated with rainwater even on Tuesday. Rainwater couldn’t not be drained out from DHA Phase I until the filing of this story. While the worst-hit area of Monday’s rainfall was DHA Phase IV.

Mrs Kamal, who lives alone in her DHA Phase IV residence, moved to a private hotel after the main iron gate of her house broke into two due to the water pressure that also entered her house.

As any car passed by her house through street, the water waves gushed into her home. “One such wave broke the solid iron gate of my house,” she told The News. “The gate collided with the car smashing its windscreen.”

Mrs Kamal has incurred a loss of Rs0.5 to Rs0.6 million and she blames the DHA and the Clinton Cantonment Board (CBC). “We couldn’t see any DHA machinery. There was no help. I had no power at my place since Monday. The house has no entry gate,” she said.

Residents blamed poor planning on the part of the Defence Housing authority for the inundating of the entire residential area. In 2020 flashfloods happened in Defence, resulting in massive damage to the road infrastructure as well as to houses of people who remained stranded for at least five days.

In the year 1980, then military dictator Ziaul Haq passed a presidential order to create DHA over an area sprawling over 51.327 square kilometers, which was also given powers of master planning of the area. The CBC came into existence 1983 to provide municipal services to the DHA’s eight residential phases.

Architect Arif Bilgaumi, who is also a resident of DHA, pointed out how all of Phase VIII was an illegally occupied land. It was not included in the original demarcation of the CBC. He said they were having a record-breaking rainfall and CBC teams were out with small portable pumps and pipes trying to get the water out. “Where is the drainage system that he DHA built for which we are all paying development charges?” he asked. “What is the point of these drains if it still requires people with pumps and buckets to drain the neighbourhood?”

DHA spokesperson Colonel Kashif, talking to The News, stressed how there was 126mm rainfall in a day’s span and few of the Defence phases, such as Phase IV, was in a bowl shape. He said all the water from adjoining areas accumulated there, for which they installed dewatering pumps, which took hours and sometimes days to drain out the water.

In 2020, he said, they took five days to drain out the water from DHA and this time DHA and CBC teams took “hardly two days”. As for Phase IV’s Bukhari Commercial area, he said, CBC and DHA teams had been deployed there. He said there were more than 60 machines of the CBC and around 25 of DHA had been moved to the locality.

Power supply

The K-Electric said in a press statement that efforts to power restoration to major areas across the city continued swiftly after a strong monsoon spell gripped the city. Approximately 500 feeders were affected due to rains, and KE teams restored more than 95 per cent of them by the evening of July 11.

The Met Department reported that Karachi received record-breaking rains, which had created an emergency situation in the city due to extreme waterlogging. Areas with waterlogging at dangerous levels were temporarily powered down on account of safety by the utility.

Parts of DHA remained worst-affected by waterlogging as most of the rain was recorded in that neighbourhood. KE CEO Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi visited the power utility's Load Dispatch Centre and monitored the power situation across the city. During his visit, he said, "Power supply continues to most part of the city. In some areas, the power supply was temporarily suspended due to the prevalence of kundas or waterlogging, which is being restored as soon as the water is receding to a safe level and safety clearance is received from the team on the grounds. We also thank our consumers for their patience and understanding amid the emergency situation in the city.”

Acknowledging the support from the civic authorities, he further stated, "I am very grateful to the city government for its complete cooperation and support in ensuring drainage of water in areas where we pointed out.” Keeping in view forecasts of more rains ahead, he asked the masses to maintain a safe distance from the electricity infrastructure and be cautious while using electric appliances amid the wet season.

Areas that KE teams restored included Surjani Town 5C-4, Mehran Town Sector 6, Nazimabad no. 3 & no. 4, Federal B Area blocks 14 and 15, Gulshan-e-Iqbal blocks 5 and 6, Main Saba Avenue, Liaquatabad No. 2 and 3, Manghopir Industrial Area, and various parts of DHA. Furthermore, North Karachi, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Orangi Town, Zia Colony, Musharraf Colony, SITE Naurus Chowrangi, Shah Faisal Colony, Mai Kolachi and PECHS were also among the areas where the electricity supply was restored. According to the KE statement, field teams are on high alert to normalise the power supply.