The city received light showers on Monday evening with the Pakistan Meteorological Department Sindh recording seven millimetres of rainfall. Rainwater inundated several low-lying areas especially the downtown. The shopping for Eid was disturbed for a while, but the people thronged the main markets of city as the showers subdued.
However, heavy rains caused flooding in several other places in the province including Nawabshah, Sanghar, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Tando Muhammad Khan, Khairpur, Thatta and Badin – the district worst hit by the recent monsoon rains – where more than 5.2 million people are already living in relief camps, schools and other government buildings and even under the open sky.
The Met Office has predicted that rains and thunderstorms in lower Sindh districts would continue until Tuesday evening. As the Sindh government and cabinet members remained busy discussing the political situation after Dr Zulfiqar Mirza’s press conference, a large number of people in the province were at the mercy of nature with torrential rains and thunderstorms paralysing life in several districts of Sindh on Monday.
Despite Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah’s tall claims, no government authority has so far started relief operations in the rain-hit districts. At many places, incidents have been reported of rain-affected people attacking trucks loaded with food items, passing through their areas.
Flood Warning Centre chief Muhammad Riaz said that due to rains, urban flooding is expected in eastern and lower Sindh districts.
“There are no chances of floods, as the flow in Indus River and its tributaries has not yet reached such a level. There was medium flood in only one tributary of Indus, Sutlej, and on Sunday evening, there was upper flood in Kabul river, but now it has also reduced so there are no chances for floods in Sindh, but torrential rains in these areas may cause urban flooding,” said Raiz.
Urban flooding is specific in the fact that its cause is lack of drainage in an urban area. High intensity rainfall can cause flooding when a city’s sewage system and draining canals do not have the necessary capacity to drain away the rainwater.
The Flood Warning Centre chief said that continuous showers are caused by monsoon currents, which are sometimes witnessed in eastern and northern areas.
Independent sources estimate that around 5.2 million people were badly-affected by recent monsoon rains and will not be able to celebrate Eid in a usual way, with their homes destroyed, crops washed away and livestock dead.
Monday’s rains will bring more difficulties upon such a large number of people in the rain-hit districts.
Some aid workers, busy in relief work in Badin, told Pakistan Today that breaches in Left Bank Outfall Drain have not been plugged and if it continues raining, it may result in even worse conditions in the district and other surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, with the standing cotton crop and vegetables including onions, tomatoes and chillies inundated due to heavy rains, high prices of these commodities are expected in the near future.