Following two days of intermittent showers and extended power cuts, citizens of the provincial capital of Sindh are now ironically without water as the supply has been cut off due to the shutdown of an important pumping station.
According to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) spokesperson, electricity supply to the North-East Karachi (NEK) pump was disrupted after the grid station supplying it was flooded with rainwater.
He added that the KWSB was unable to provide 160 million gallons of to water various parts of the city; however, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, New Karachi, North Karachi and Scheme 33 were among the worst affected areas with a complete water outage while Gulshan-e-Iqbal was partially affected.
MAJOR POWER BREAKDOWN
The residents of Karachi could face a major power breakdown as rainwater entered the KDA grid station at Gulzar-e-Hijri Scheme 33 on early Wednesday morning, forcing the K-Electric to completely shut down the power supply to some feeders, local media reported.
“Monsoon downpour has caused Lath Dam near Super Highway to overflow. The floodwater has entered K-Electric’s KDA Grid station, located at Gulzar-e-Hijri Scheme 33, one of the most critical grids of KE’s 220kV grid and an interconnection point between KE and NTDC,” said a statement shared by the power provider on Facebook late Tuesday.
“As an emergency safety measure, we are forced to suspend supply to feeders associated with this grid. This has affected power supply to parts of Sohrab Goth, Abulhassan Isphahani Road, Super Highway, KWSB’s NEK Pumping station among few others,” the statement continued.
A spokesperson of K-Electric hinted that it may be forced to remain completely shut down as water flow poses serious hazards to the safety of the staff and equipment.
The spokesperson further told that work is being done along with all related authorities to bring this situation under control as soon as possible. All feasible resources including trenches, water pumps, and sandbags have been deployed around the grid to block the water.
BRACE FOR MORE RAIN
The rainfall recorded so far in different parts of the city were; Surjani 119mm, Saddar 98mm, Faisal Base 71mm, North Karachi 65mm, Jinnah Terminal 60mm, University road 55mm, Gulshan-e-Hadid 52mm, Masroor 48mm, Landhi 43mm, Nazimabad 39mm, Kemari 14mm.
Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah has directed provincial Minister for Local Government Saeed Ghani to visit Hyderabad, another major city that has suffered the worst of the monsoon rains, to oversee the drainage of water from the city. Ghani was directed to formulate a plan to repair roads after the city is cleared.
Moreover, Army personnel is also assisting in the drainage of water from Latifabad, Mehar Ali Housing Scheme, Qasimabad and Phuleli areas.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), another weather system is bringing in more monsoon rains with wind and thunderstorm in upper and central parts of the country, which will last until Friday.
Strong monsoon currents from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and a westerly wave is likely to merge on Thursday and Friday, bringing widespread rains as well as wind and thunderstorms with isolated, heavy to very heavy falls expected in Hazara, Malakand, Peshawar, Mardan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad divisions, Islamabad and Kashmir.
