Sindh govt imposes rain emergency in several districts

KARACHI: Pakistan Meteorological Department has predicted a heavy spell of rain in Sindh and Balochistan from today till Saturday due to which rain emergency has been declared in many districts of Sindh province.

Meanwhile, the weather took a turn for the better for Karachi residents on Thursday afternoon, however shortly after the rain began, several areas of the city faced power outage.

Following the fourth spell of rain today, around 200 feeders of the Karachi-Electric power supply company tripped, sources said.

The parts of Karachi which received heavy to moderate rain include Malir, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, PECHS Society, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Kathor, Surjani Town, Bahadurabad, Super Highway Cattle Market, Shahra-e-Faisal and other parts of the city.

During the rain, citizens suffered extreme difficulty while traveling through the flooded roads which created huge traffic jams in busiest roads in different parts of the city.

The civic life came to a halt as the rainwater flooded all roads and streets. All the utility services, including power, water and telecommunication, were badly affected. The civic agencies, particularly the cantonment boards, failed to cope with the situation.

Fishermen have been directed not to venture into the deep sea as per the preventive measures issued by the government.

Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah, in light of the Met department’s rain advisory notification, assigned rain relief monitoring activities to provincial ministers, advisers and special assistants in at least 27 districts.

The chief minister ordered government representatives to move to the districts and they have been assigned duties in to supervise relief activities. The CM also asked the government officials to keep him apprised of the situation.

Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah have been put in charge of monitoring the relief work throughout the province.

Chairman District West, Azharuddin Ahmad Khan declared rain emergency in all four zones of the district and canceled the leave of officers and staff.

He directed to keep all necessary equipment including light and heavy machinery and de-watering pumps active 24 hours a day in all four zones of the district.

According to PMD, one of the systems has traveled beyond Indian Gujarat, however, the two systems are likely to converge by today evening.

Thunder cells are also forming in the southeast area of Karachi due to which the port city might receive rainfall in the evening,” said the Met department, adding that the intensity of the rain might be higher on Friday.