Karachi   -   Rain wreaked havoc in the city once again on Monday, causing deaths from electrocution, flooding in parts of the city, traffic jams and power outages.

Officials of the provincial and local bodies, which are responsible for dealing with the situation, remained absent from the scene.

Friday was the fifth consecutive day when rain lashed parts of the city in the afternoon. The meteorological department official has termed the rain spell in the city extraordinary with around 130mm rainfall during the past week.  However, Friday’s was the heaviest spell so far as the city received 55mm rainfall in the Nazimabad area in two hours. As a result, streets and lanes of the area were flooded. Footage of the area shared on social media sites showed water entering cars and motorbikes.

Mohammad Ali, a resident of Nazimabad, said that a brief spell of rain exposed claims of the provincial and local governments and made them realise how vulnerable, the city is in case of heavy rainfall. The other areas of the city also witnessed moderate to heavy showers for around 2 hours from 12:30 pm.

A meteorological department official said that 45mm rain was recorded in Saddar and Surjani areas, 32mm in Masroor/Mauripur, 27mm in North Karachi, 20mm in Landhi, 11mm in Shareh-e-Faisal and 1.4mm in the airport area, while traces were reported in Gulshan-i-Hadeed.  The local government machinery as claimed by some of the district chairmen remained on the roads to clear rainwater. However, no information was provided from the provincial authorities, who had launched a clean Karachi campaign, of coming on the city roads to clear the water accumulated after the brief spell of the downpour.

The local government minister Nasir Hussain Shah and other ministers including Saeed Ghani, Ghulam Murtaza Baloch and others tasked for cleaning city areas during Clean My Karachi campaign, were nowhere seen during and after the rainfall to clear the roads. Even the roads leading to National Stadium, where an international match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka to be played after 10 years since cricket returned to the city, witnessed massive flooding due to incompetence of the authorities.

AT LEAST THREE KILLED IN

RAIN-RELATED INCIDENTS

At least three people were electrocuted and a child was downed in rain related incidents in the city on Friday.

The deaths from electrocution were reported in Site A area and Lyari while a 20-year old woman suffered injuries from electric shock in Boat Basin area.

In Site-A area, two men were electrocuted when they were returning after performing Friday prayers from Jamia Binoria al Aalmia. They were identified as 55-year-old Abdul Mannan, son of Abdul Wahab, a resident of Nazimabad area and 56-year-old Abdul Rauf, son of Abdullah, a resident of Shoe Market area in Garden.

Their bodies were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for medico-legal formalities, from where the families of both the victims took them away for burial process without launching any criminal proceedings. Another incident was reported within the remits of Baghdadi police station, where a man was electrocuted while he was performing some electric work inside the house.

He was taken to Civil Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival by doctors. The victim was identified as Aslam, 35, son of Salman. A woman also received electric shock from an electric pole in Boat Basin area of the city. A footage showed that the woman received electric shock from the pole and was rescued by some passers-by.

She was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, where she was identified as 20-year-old Sumaiya, wife of Irfan. The doctors declared that she fell unconscious after encountering the electric shock and was out of danger.

In another incident, a child was drowned while another was rescued by the authorities after they drowned in a sewerage line near Lyari River at Teen Hatti while playing during the rain. The rescuers saved one of them while the other one was found dead. The victim was identified as Sufiyan, son of Karamat and was later shifted to ASH for medico-legal formalities. The body was later handed over to the family.

POWER OUTAGES, TRAFFIC JAMS

Power outages and traffic jams have become a common feature during rain in the city as whenever the city receives rainfall, these two issues always pop up, causing difficulties for Karachiites.

More than 350 feeders of the K-Electric have tripped, affecting electricity supply to Azizabad, New Karachi, North Nazimabad, Gulistan-e-Johar, among other areas. Karachi Electric spokesperson Adil Murtaza while talking to media has urged citizens to stay away from open wires, pad-mounted transformers and electric poles.

He informed that power had been disconnected in Korangi Crossing, Maripur, and some parts of Defence and Gulshan-i-Iqbal as “precautionary measures”. Bin Qasim, Baldia and Surjani Town are also experiencing power outages.

“Due to rain and lack of draining of accumulated rain-water, repair work was facing delay,” Murtaza informed.

Traffic jams were also witnessed on major thoroughfares in the city including Shahra-e-Faisal, roads leading to Liaquatabad and Shahra-e-Pakistan after the rainfall as they were already witnessing excessive traffic due to closure of routes leading to National Stadium.

Other roads leading to Saddar, Nazimabad and other areas in the city also witnessed traffic jams amid absence of the traffic police authorities, who were mostly deployed on the route leading to National stadium due to ongoing cricket series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.