Met office forecasts heavy to moderate rain for Karachi today

The Met office on Monday predicted heavy to light rainfall in Karachi today as the city recovers from last week's downpour.

According to the Met department, rain or drizzle did not occur in Karachi on Sunday night, however, showers can be expected in the port city in the evening. It added that the focus of the monsoon winds is on central and eastern Sindh.

The Met office also said that the winds may turn to South Punjab and northern Pakistan to cause heavy rains in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.

On the other hand, heavy rains were seen in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Thatta which resulted in low lying areas being flooded and power supply being disrupted. Heavy rains were also witnessed in Islamabad, Pakpattan, Sialkot, Chichawatni, Jhelum and Azad Kashmir’s Nakiyal area.

The prediction comes as Karachi reels from back-to-back spells of heavy rains in August that exposed the city's faulty drainage system and left many people stranded in their homes and offices. The downpour also led the Sindh government to declare four cities of the province calamity-hit.

According to a notification issued by the government's Relief Department, 20 districts in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah) have been declared as "calamity-affected areas".

"Whereas the heavy rainfalls during monsoon season have caused loss of human life and property in various districts of the Province of Sindh, Government of Sindh, in exercise of powers vested under Section 3 of the Sindh National Calamities (Prevention & Relief) Act-1958, therefore, declares the following districts of the province as 'calamity-affected areas'," read the notification, shared by Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab.

The notification has named South, West, East, Central, Korangi and Malir districts of Karachi; nine districts in Hyderabad, namely Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Jamshoro, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari and Dadu; three in Mirpurkhas, namely Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar; and two in Shaheed Benazirabad, namely Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar.

According to the handout, the deputy commissioners of these districts shall "immediately assess specific losses and move for compensation".