ISLAMABAD, Aug 29 (NNN-APP) – An ongoing rain spell in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi left at least 23 people killed, dozens injured and scores of others homeless, local media and officials said yesterday.
The spell of torrential monsoon rains started in Sindh province, where the commercial hub is located, on Monday, affecting many districts, but Karachi was the worst hit, where the whole of the residential colonies and markets in some areas were submerged in rainwater.
Ghulam Nabi Memon, police chief of the city, said, 23 people were killed in the city since Monday, in separate rain-related incidents of roof collapse, drowning in the flash floods, electrocution and road accidents.
Owing to the bad weather, the provincial government announced holiday yesterday, across Sindh, after hundreds of people remained stranded in offices or roads for hours, amid rising rain water and flash floods.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, imposed a “rain emergency” in the city, saying that, “all low lying areas of the city have been inundated by water” and they are making best of their efforts to rescue people during the calamity.
As most of the incidents happened due to clogging of drainage, Shah said, concerned department is trying to drain out the water from affected areas.
Electricity supply was also disrupted in parts of the city, as authorities had to suspend power to over 900 feeders, to avoid electrocution incidents. Several substations, grid stations and power plants, were also impacted by the rising water levels, resulting in blackouts in the city.
Local TV channels reported about washing away of hundreds of houses along Lyari and Malir rivers, rendering scores of people homeless. The chief minister also confirmed that many people became homeless, after streams passing through the city overflowed. He said, the government has arranged a temporary stay for the homeless in state-owned schools.
Teams of Pakistani army and navy also assisted the civil administration in rescue work. The military said that, an “Army Flood Emergency Control Centre” has been established in the city, to assist flood victims, and a medical camp is also operating in the city, to provide necessary medical care to the injured.
“De-watering of more than 36 sites in Karachi are complete. Cooked meal for over 10,000 people distributed among flood victims in various areas,” a statement by the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations said, adding, the army were also working on de-watering several grid stations in the city , and filling breaches in water reservoirs, to save the residential colonies settled in adjoining areas.
The Meteorological Department said, the ongoing spell has broken years-long record of Aug monsoon rains in the city. The weather office predicted more rains till Monday, but their intensity is expected to slow down from today.– NNN-APP
