Nowadays, this orphan city is going through the worst. Heavy rainfall has caused terrible floods in the whole town because of the malfunctioned sewerage system of the city. The main streets and routes in many parts of the city remain in rainwater. A day after record-breaking rainfall in the region, several areas continue to face electricity failures.

As rescue and relief efforts in the metropolis have begun to re-establish some normality, there have been new death losses. After drowning in the flooded Clifton suburb near Do Talwar, a 14-year old boy, Arshad, was dead. According to Dr Seemin Jamali, Executive Director of the hospital, his body had been moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. In Polo Ground, another young boy, Khalilullah, also drowned his body in the JPMC.

In Karachi, southern Pakistan’s largest city and its business centre, at least 13 people were killed by urban flooding because of the torrential monsoon rains that inundated and electric-free large parts of the metropolis.

Victims and Mishaps

The victims include people who drowned, collapsed or electricized in their homes by short-circuiting cables, Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the Medical Center (JPMC).

On Thursday, the country’s weather department said the highest reported since the records began was over 223 mm rain in 12 hours. In August, over 484 mm of rain has decreased by more than ten times the monthly average according to the statistics.

“Dr Jamali told on the telephone: the chaos that occurred here due to the adverse weather and urban floods has overwhelmed everyone. “You’d be surprised by the streets of Karachi. There is no way out in the city.”           

A 50-year-old man drowned on Thursday night, in the flooded Chowrangis pass, but his body was recovered on Friday, according to the Spokesman for Edhi Foundation.

In a river near Football Chowk in Hawkesbury was found the body of an unidentified man who was drowning. Dr. Ruth Pfau Civic Hospital Karachi, a speaker of the charity, had been established and transferred to it. The official also said that three teams of the charity had been rescued in boats and moved to safe locations by as many as 300 families that were stranded on rainy water in New Nazimabad’s residency society.

A Chhipa spokesman reported that the body of another unacknowledged drowned man in his 40s had been retrieved from a drain in Block L of North Nazimabad. The body has been moved to the hospital, Abbasi Shaheed.

The official also adds that the body of an unknown man was found floating on a creek near Korangi Crossing in his mid-20s.

An aged 21, known as Taimur Jacob, was drowned in a drain at the Colony of Manzoor. His corpse has been moved to the JPMC.

Today, after drowning in the drain in Liaquatabad, the body of another young man died. Three people were killed because of the electrocution, including an electronically shocked defenceman and an 18-year-old woman in Qayyumabad. Her body has been moved to the JPMC for medical procedures.

Police and Other Forces

Police said Javaid, a thirty-year-old security guard, was found dead inside a DHA Phase IV home. The body was moved to the JPMC, where physicians verified he was killed in electric shock. Dawn was informed by an inhabitant named Saleem Nazeer that his brother, Waseem, 34, and mom, travelled to Korangi, from Uzmanian colony, to express sympathies on the August 25 death of a relative. They drove a motorbike when massive waves of water washed them away from a Korangi stream and were still unsure about their location. He encouraged the authorities to try to find members of his family to relieve their fear. On Friday, as Karachi Commissioner Dr Sohails Rajput said, a minimum of ten families were rescued and transported to safe places after the Orangi nullah overflowed.

The Commission Commissioner noted that in their homes or relief camps over 8,000 rain-affected people from the western, smaller and central districts were fed. Sindh CEO Murad Ali Shah said at a press conference that the five heavy rainfall this monsoon season claimed the lives of eighty people, including forty-seven in Karachí.

Major roads and infrastructure across the city of 22 million people were flooded under several feet of water, with residents unable to reach hospitals and rescue workers deployed to attempt to save those whose homes had been destroyed.

“There was a lady who was in a wheelchair who drowned in the water from her own house, a 56-year-old lady who couldn’t get out of her own house because she was differently-abled,” said Dr Jamali.

As water levels rose, the city’s electricity utility company shut down power to large parts of the metropolis to protect citizens from electrocution from malfunctioning wires or other machinery.

Video footage showed roads and walls being washed away by the force of water in several areas, as the city’s drains and sewage channels overflowed from the volume of water.

Motorists abandoned their cars on major roads and were forced to walk, as the flooding water washed away many vehicles.

The collapse of infrastructure also affected landline and cellular telephone networks, which began to fail on Thursday as the volume of use rose, residents say.

Power outages caused by disturbances to the network

The Pakistan weather ministry data have shown that between 11 am and 2 pm on Friday 84 mm of rain was received in Karachi’s Gulshan e-Hadeed area. There was little or no rainfall in other areas of the site. Karachi Electric said that many places were “inaccessible due to high water levels” in an update on the power situation in the city. The company said many of its vehicles are still stuck, heading to places such as DHA and Surjani, which are some of the city’s worst-affected areas. The company added that “its teams are coordinating with the competent authorities to ensure rapid power recovery in other places.” Power has been restored in certain areas.

“Power stays closed until all the water stands free.”

KE sent the DHA and the Clifton Canton Authority a letter in the evening, urging them “to ensure urgent dewatering and drainage in the interests of the power re-establishment of KE teams.”

It said that urban floods remain the most considerable recovery challenge. “We can not reach locations even after mobilizing other tools, including equipment, vehicles and field teams.”

There was also emerging disorder in signals from several city networks, which led Murtaza Wahab, the Sindh government spokesman, to clarify that provincial authorities have not regulated today’s usage of cell phones. “The restriction will not be exercised until in a certain place on the 9th & 10th Muharram processions,” he said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, a Mobilink (Jazz) mobile spokesman reported that the infrastructure was weakened by flooding in different regions of the city because of the disruption of its services.

The organization said that technical teams were working to restore infrastructure and to restart services as quickly as possible.

In response to Twitter people, Telenor suggested that services were disrupted as a result of “maintenance” in the area.

Ufone also said that due to the rain, services were affected. “Be assured that our teams work to help you restore service as quickly as possible every day of the day,” said the company.

Govt Response towards Flood

Saturday Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Tehreek-e-Insaf of Pakistan (PTI) and the People’s Party of Pakistan (PPP) had been scheduled to work together to fix three significant problems in Karachi.

The PremierPremier said days after governments of the Federal Government and the provincial Government of Sindh agreed to put their differences aside for improving Karachi, the PTI and PPP governments decided to work together immediately to clean up nullahs, find a permanent solution to solid waste disposal and wastewater supply issues and ensure that the city receives water supplies.

The prime minister expressed sympathy for the people of Karachi who were devastated in the last few days by the torrential rains and assured Pakistani citizens that the federal and provincial governments were ready to solve the problems of Karachi on an ongoing basis.

When he spoke to Twitter, the Prime Minister said, “The entire country feels the misery our people face in Karachi. But the destruction and misery are now optimistic as my Government, and the Sindh Government move to intervene quickly and address three main Karachi issue.

In the next tweet, PM Imran wrote that “nullahs must be cleared for once and water canals prevent prejudices; that solid waste disposal and wastewater treatment issues should be permanently solved, and the crucial issue of water for the people of Karachi should be resolved.”

On August 28, the announcement came in the context of the premiership speech, in which he said the Federal Government was fully conscious of the developmental needs of the people of Sindh, particularly the Karachi people.

While presiding over a meeting held in Karachi on Friday to review the progress of various uplift projects, Imran informed the participants that relevant authorities were asked to carry out urban relief operations.

During the meeting, the PremierPremier revealed that after heavy rains he spoke to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah about the situation in Karachi, and assured the provincial Government of the Federal Government’s full support. He underlined that Karachi was an essential part of Pakistan and that all of its problems would be resolved soon.

A committee comprising members of the three key stakeholders – PPP, PTI and MQM – was formed between the federal and Sindh governments on August 16 to deal with urban issues.

The meeting followed the course in Islamabad of Governor Imran Ismail, Federal Minister Asad Ali Shah, Education Minister Saeed Ghani and information minister Nasir Hussain Shah.

The Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal, also attended the meeting, according to the Provincial Information Ministry. The three groups have expected to work together to solve the city’s urban problems.

Karachi and other parts of Sindh and Balochistan are currently reeling from three days of torrential rains, which in many areas has brought life to a virtual halt. Pakistan’s most massive city flooding has significant economic consequences as well.

PM’s trade and investment advisor Razak Dawood tweeted on Wednesday that Pakistan’s exports for the month of August could be affected by heavy rains in Karachi. “It seems that our export consignments are being delayed due to the heavy rains, particularly in Karachi, and so our exports for the month of August may be affected.”

Efforts in Bahria Town Karachi

In such conditions the administration of Bahria Town Karachi has started their relief taskforce. They begin to investigate and administer the places in Bahria Town Karachi that require medical or physical attention. The response of Bahria Town has been much more apt than rest of the city and is admins. The force will monitor and help anyone stuck in an emergency and contribute to a much safer and better Karachi.

In order to investigate further, Pakistan Property Leaders is with you. Everything is at halt in the city. But, this was a given with all the global warming and rising sea levels. Let’s hope and work towards a better and stronger future where we are better equipped to deal with emergencies. Stay Safe!