Municipal staff seen nowhere as heavy rainfall causes chaos in city

An emergency-like situation emerged on Karachi’s roads after heavy rainfall on Saturday evening, which took the city administration by surprise.

Even hours after the rainfall had ended, municipal officials could not be seen working on drainage work.

Parts of the city’s main artery Sharea Faisal were completely submerged with water and scores of cars broke down that further disrupted the traffic movement. 

As the rainwater entered the Drigh Road underpass and could not be drained for a long period, chaos ensued on Sharea Faisal.

No emergency response by the city administration showed as if the rain had taken them by surprise and they had no preparations.

The Gizri underpass was also flooded with rainwater and was closed for the traffic movement.

District Central’s Nagan Chowrangi, Five Star Chowrangi, Disco Mor and Surjani Town were also completely flooded with rainwater.

In a few areas, rainwater also entered houses. In District East, the under-construction University Road was completely flooded with rainwater bringing traffic to a standstill for hours.

Many people returning from offices were stuck on roads for hours before they could reach homes.

The rain also disrupted flights at the Jinnah International Airport. Geo News quoted sources as saying that the flight schedule was affected between 9pm and 11pm.

A statement issued by the officer of Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab said drainage work was commenced in areas after rainfall had subsided there.

The mayor directed the relevant municipal officials to ensure that rainwater was not accumulated in any area.

The statement read that the mayor also visited II Chundrigar Road, Pakistan Chowk and Burns Road to check the situation.

According to the statement, electricity supply had been restored at the PIDC pumping station and four pumping stations in Lyari were also operational on generators. According to the Met Office, Surjani had received 62mm of rain, Orangi Town 52mm, Airport 41.8, Clifton 39.4mm, North Karachi 33.6mm, University Road 29.8mm, Nazimabad 23.5mm and Keamari received 28.8mm of rain until midnight.

KWSC emergency

Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineer Syed Sallahuddin Ahmed imposed an emergency in the water corporation due to possibility of more rains.

According to a spokesperson for the KWSC, the KWSC CEO issued orders to the chief engineer sewerage to keep all the jetting and suction machines ready and instructions to all executive engineers to remain deployed in their respective areas.

The CEO said machinery should be delivered to all important highways across the city before further rains so that the citizens did not face any kind of problem.