The fragility of civic infrastructure has been exposed as the city received the first spell of winter rains on Thursday.
The officials at Karachi Met Office attributed the shower, which lashed the city early morning and lasted till 8am, to the westerly system that hit the city from the neighboring country of Iran. “The system has now moved onto the country’s north where it will stay for the next couple of days to cause more rains,” said a Met Office official.
He, however, said there was no more chances of rains in the metropolis where Thursday saw the socioeconomic activities affected to an extent that many of the educational institutions, particularly schools, were shut down. The attendance in the offices also remained thinner than routine. “I had directed to shut down the school well before the scheduled time,” said Azizur Rehman, a principal of a private school in Keamari. “Attendance was also lower than normal,” he added.
The rains flooded most of the city roads while citizens were seen splashing in the knee-deep rainwater.
Worst hit areas were the low-laying or impoverished areas like Keamari where the gutters had overflowed, thus making it next-to-impossible for commuters to reach their destinations in clean attires. “There is no street or road in the area which is free of mud,” said Muhammad Ali, a headmaster of a public school in Bhutta Village area of Keamari Town. The city traffic was immensely disturbed and passengers were seen waiting on various bus stops where vehicles showed up after long intervals. According to Met Office data, the heaviest downpour was recorded in Landhi area where 33 millimeters of rain fell. Areas like PAF Faisal received 30mm, Saddar 19mm, Karachi (A/P) 18mm, University Road 13mm and Masroor Base 10mm. The rain, he said, would first hit the coastal belt of Pasni, Dewani in Baluchistan province and would later enter into Karachi.
Meanwhile, the Met Office officially forecast light rain for the next 24 hours in the city. Thursday’s rain also brought along a cold wave that made the weather chilly by lowering the temperatures ranging between 15 and 17 degrees centigrade.
