Hours-long power outages pile misery on Karachiites after moderate to heavy rains

Many areas of the city received moderate rain, with some localities pounded by heavy showers on Thursday night, which resulted in prolonged power outages in almost half of the city.

Rainwater accumulated on a number of roads and thoroughfares, causing traffic jams and inconvenience to motorists.

“Under the influence of a monsoon system, Karachi’s different areas received light to moderate rains from Thursday evening till night. The heaviest rainfall was recorded in the Gulshan-e-Hadeed area where 70 millimeters of rain was recorded. The monsoon system, which was expected to cause more showers bypassed the city on Friday without causing any significant rain,” Director Met Karachi Sardar Sarfraz told The News on Friday.

He said conditions were ideal for a rain spell of moderate to high intensity on Friday evening, but the monsoon system bypassed Karachi and caused rains in the adjoining areas in Balochistan. He added that now the system was almost cleared and there were little chances of any significant rain in the city.

According to the weather expert, the PAF Base Faisal received 37mm of rain, Masroor 36mm, Nazimabad 35mm, Surjani and old airport 27mm, North Karachi 24mm, and Keamari received 18mm of rain.

Jinnah Terminal received 17.4, Landhi 17mm, Saadi Town 14.9mm and University Road received 13.3mm of rain, Sarfraz added.

Power outages

Power outages continued in Karachi on Friday after the rainfall on Thursday.

It took the power utility K-Electric (KE) more than 12 hours to resume the power supply to several areas, including Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, DHA, Clifton, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, Orangi Town, Malir and Korangi.

Raza Ansari tweeted how they received power after four hours and then after five minutes there was another power outage. Dilshad Muhammad tweeted how there was no power in Shah Latif Town.

Electrocution deaths

Two people died from electrocution during rains in the city, police said on Friday.

Twenty-five-year-old Somar Khan, son of Ghulam Nabi, died of electrocution in Dalmia Colony within the limits of the Aziz Bhatti police station.

His body was taken to a nearby private hospital and later handed over to his family for burial. The deceased person hailed from Rahim Yar Khan and lived in Karachi’s Hussain Hazara Goth.

Separately, Kamran, 25, son of Rozi Khan, died of an electricity shock in the Banaras area. His body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital from where his family took it away with them without medico-legal formalities.

What KE says

The power utility, however, claims that all its feeders are working properly. As Karachi continues to experience intermittent showers, the power utility said in a press statement on Friday that in this regard, they are regularly monitoring the situation in various parts of the city and their teams are vigilant to address any concerns raised by citizens and media.

As per reports, three fatal incidents of electrocution were reported in the city, two of which did not involve the KE infrastructure, while third one is being reviewed by area teams.

The press statement said 25-year-old Raheel was reported to be travelling on his motorbike on a waterlogged road in FB Area’s Hussainabad locality and reportedly came into contact with a streetlight pole. Eyewitnesses report that the streetlight was wrapped with decorative lights. It could not be ascertained at the time whether the streetlight pole and the wrapping of LEDs were installed by the local administration or the area association.

Investigations are also underway of an extremely unfortunate incident in the Shanti Nagar area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 10 A. As per initial reports, a TV cable hanging at a dangerously low height created an electric current. While KE’s pole was fully grounded and compliant with safety codes, the encroached wire and subsequent current from the illegal wires on the pole proved fatal for 25-year-old Somaar along with a cow that was tethered to the pole.

We are currently investigating the third incident and will update once the information becomes available.

K-Electric expressed its deepest sympathies with the families who lost loved ones to unfortunate incidents.