Karachi: Eleven people lost their lives following incessant rains that left Karachi paralysed as electricity, water and drainage infrastructure buckled on Saturday under the strain that left major highways flooded.
As many as 400 electricity feeders operated by K-Electric collapsed, disrupting power supplies to many parts of the city lashed by heavy rains which started on Friday evening and resumed on Saturday morning.
The city’s drainage network was next to give way as the power failures crippled pumps meant to flush excess water off roads, leaving major thoroughfares and roads inundated.
The Met office recorded a staggering 40 millimetres of rain in the short period.
The power failures also hit the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), rendering its pumping facilities, which were supposed to deliver an estimated 100 million gallons of water, ineffective and causing water shortages across the city.
Chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah made an emergency tour of the city and ordered the administration to immediately deploy additional pumping machines to clear inundated roads.
Shah told the media that the city’s situation was far from desirable but vowed to restore normalcy as soon as possible.
Hospitals and rescue organisations reported that eight persons were electrocuted while another three people died after a roof collapsed on them.
The city’s courts suspended all hearings, including criminal cases, as the swamped roads prevented many from reaching the courts.
Diversions placed on the Super Highway to aid traffic flow were washed away while hundreds of buses and trucks were stranded, bogged down by the thick mud.
Underpasses in Nazimabad had to be shut down owing to pooling rainwater.
