KARACHI: Six people were killed in rain-related incidents in the city on Friday when the Pakistan Meteorological Department recorded up to 97.4 millimetres (close to four inches) of rains that piled misery on citizens and caused flooding in many areas due to terrible civic infrastructure in the city.
With fifth the successive day of raining when Karachi received heaviest of the monsoon rains of this season so far, the dilapidated city infrastructure which was already on the edge after four days of downpour exploded and caused flooding in many areas leaving almost every district submerged by rainwater, triggering power crisis, damaging sewerage system and hours-long traffic jam on all major roads.
The first spell of monsoon rains which originally began on Monday turned worst on its fifth day for Karachiites as the city which was under warning of urban flooding by the Met office amid heavy rain forecast met all the fears.
There was calm over the skies early in the morning and pleasant weather persisted throughout the day.
It was in the second half of the day when the city came under thick dark clouds and it started raining.
By 4pm the majority of Karachi areas were under “moderate to heavy” downpour and in some areas it was recorded “very heavy” rains.
“There is a strong monsoon system and its currents from the Arabian Sea are penetrating into Karachi and other parts of Sindh,” said Sardar Sarfraz of the Met office.
“Different Karachi areas, including the northern and eastern parts received moderate to heavy showers and some areas witnessed some very heavy falls. Gulshan-i-Hadeed for instance received the highest 94.7 millimetres of rainfall in a few hours of the spell. The trend is likely to continue tomorrow [Saturday] and may start weakening by Saturday night but it would be there.”
With Gilshan-i-Hadeed staying on top among other areas to receive the highest amount of rain on Friday, Met office showed the Old Airport area as the second to receive 54mm rain, followed by Faisal Base 46mm, Jinnah Terminal 38mm, University Road 27.6mm, Quaidabad 25.5mm, Nazimabad 19.2mm, Gadap 13.2mm, DHA 10.5mm, Saadi Town 8.9mm, Keamari and Masroor Base 8mm, Surjani 7mm, Gulshan-i-Maymar 6.6mm and North Karachi and Orangi Town received 5.3 and 5.1 mm of rains respectively.
