Staff Reporter
Karachi
Torrential rain lashed Karachi on Thursday, causing widespread flooding, as downpours in August shattered 89-year-old records for the city, meteorological officials confirmed.
Thursday marked the third day of heavy rain this week, during which more than a dozen people have died while residents have been forced to abandon their homes. Provincial authorities were moving displaced families into school buildings as the mili-tary carried out rescue and relief operations.
At least 19 people were killed in various rain-related incidents in Karachi on Thursday, officials and rescue services said, taking the tally of deaths during the three-day monsoon spell in the city to 30.
Meteorological officials said downpours in August have shattered 89-year-old records for the city.
Some 484mm (19 inches) of rain has fallen this month so far, city weatherman Sardar Sarfaraz told Reuters.
“It has never rained so much in the month of August, according to our data,” Sarfaraz said, adding that the data went back to 1931.
Meanwhile, Relief and Rescue op-erations continue in flood hit areas of Karachi and Hyderabad an ISPR press release said . Dewatering of More than 36 sites in Karachi have been com-pleted .Cooked meal over 10000 people distributed among flood victims in various areas. Enhancenent of bund along M9 near Northern Bypass to avoid flooding of M9 completed by Army Engineers. Pakistan Army Engineers placed 3 plant dets along with dewatering pumps to KE Grid Sta, Saadi Town and Malir Cantt. Army Engineers also constructed bund at these locations to save them from water flow . Army troops filled breach of Malir Nadi near Quaidabad.
Pakistan Army Engineer boats are busy in shift-ing people to safer places
Pakistan Navy Emergency Response teams along with Pakistan Navy Diverse recovered two dead bodies from Shah Faisal Town and Korangi crossing area Pakistan Navy Seaking helicopter conducted aerial reccee of Korangi crossing, Quaidabad (Malir nadi), and Goth Shafi Muhammad. A 22-year-old man drowned in Rexel river, according to Chhipa sources. The body of the man, who could not be identified, was shifted to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospi-tal Karachi.
A 30-year-old man was found floating in a drain in Liaquatabad B-1 area. Area SHO Liaquat Ha-yat Mehsud said it ap-peared that the man drowned somewhere in the Lyari River and strong currents brought his body there, which was recovered and shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
According to data re-leased by the Met de-partment, PAF Faisal Base recorded 130 mil-limetres of rain while Nazimabad has re-corded 105.6mm since morning. Mausamiyat received 74.3mm of rain, while Saadi Town recorded 72mm.
About 98.5mm of rain was recorded in PAF Masroor Base, Surjani received 73mm while Kemari recorded 82.5mm.
Many major arteries witnessed severe traffic jams across the city and many areas of Ka-rachi were experienc-ing power outages.
Some areas of the city have been without power for more than 10 hours now.
Urban flooding led to the closure of the KPT underpass in Clifton as well as the Punjab Colony, Liaquatabad, Nazimabad and Ghareebabad under-passes for traffic, ac-cording to the Traffic Police. The situation caused traffic jams on surrounding roads.
According to the Met Office, the city will continue to receive rain until tonight.
Power was suspended in several areas as a precautionary measure, the Karachi Electric’s spokesperson said.
Noting that there was “heavy rain and severe flooding” across Kara-chi, the KE, in a tweet, said: “Power shutdown in effect for public safety as streets, houses and buildings flooded. In this crisis please be prepared for prolonged shutdowns as power restoration is dependent on water re-ceding.”
Additionally, Karachi Commissioner Mu-hammad Suhail Rajput urged people not to leave their homes.
Meanwhile, Sindh Rangers have urged residents to call helpline 1101 or con-tact on 0347-9001111 via WhatsApp for as-sistance, Radio Paki-stan reported. Resi-dents can also call Edhi Centre at 115 and Chhipa at 1020. Due to power outages, Edhi’s 115 helpline service was affected, the organisation said in a statement, adding that rainwater had also entered the Edhi con-trol room.
A relief and rescue op-eration by the Sindh Rangers is underway. Rangers are also coor-dinating with NGOs to distribute ration pack-ages in areas where food supply has been affected. Quoting the Rangers spokesperson, Radio Pakistan reported that teams have been con-stituted to hasten the rescue operation.
Minister Murad Ali Shah, in a state-ment, said that the in-cessant, heavy down-pour has caused a “dis-astrous situation” in Karachi.
