KARACHI, July 29: Most of the people stayed indoors and the city roads gave a deserted look on Tuesday in the wake of Monday’s torrential rain.
The rain on Monday had rendered thousands of people stranded on roads as they were left with no choice except walking to their destinations. Most of the public transport disappeared and the vehicles got stuck up on the flooded roads.
The people working in offices and other workplaces, reached their homes late and exhausted on Monday night. Most of them could not reach their offices and workplaces on Tuesday.
The attendance at public and private offices remained thin as the people feared more torrential rains, as forecast by the Met office, and their bad experience of Monday’s rain kept many at their homes.
A Steel Mill worker said after closure of their shift in the evening, a North Karachi-bound company bus which left the mill around 5pm on Monday, reached its destination around 4am on Tuesday.
Similarly, a resident of Malir said: “I left my office in Garden area in the evening and had to cover most of the distance on foot. I somehow reached the airport bridge and then I had to walk home as no transport was available to proceed ahead due to accumulation of rainwater. I reached home around 3am.”
The inter-city bus service to and from the city was badly disturbed, said Haji Iqbal, chief of an organization of inter-city bus service.
He said the bus operations for upcountry were normal but the bus service to different towns of the province including Badin, Thar, Naukot, Mithi, Chachhro and other areas remained totally suspended or the number of buses were reduced on these routes due to heavy rains. “We cannot take buses to these routes where 11-15 feet water has accumulated”, he added.
Meanwhile, in the wake of Monday’s heavy downpour many of the roads in the city got damaged due to the rainwater accumulated at many places, adds PPI.
After about 100mm of rainfall recorded on Monday, on the next day when the rainwater receded from many areas in the city, the roads could be seen littered with garbage and the city being invaded by flies, with no action in sight from the city government to deal with the situation.
The city, on Monday, had witnessed its worst ever traffic jams as most of the roads and streets had almost turned into canals and ponds in the absence of any draining system.
Attendance in the offices as well as in other workplaces and educational institutions was comparatively thin on Tuesday, and like office work the academic activities in the city were also affected.
One of the main problems faced by the people in various areas of the city was the accumulated rainwater, that affected the movement of the traffic as well as that of the pedestrians.
Even in the posh area of Clifton, the water was seen standing on the roads and the streets.
The residents living in the affected areas complained that the streets in front of their flats and houses had been flooded but the city government had so far made no arrangements to drain out the accumulated rainwater.
They urged the city Nazim as well as the Naib Nazim to take appropriate steps for draining out the water and demanded that proper measures be taken.
They stressed that the nallahs should also be cleaned on emergency basis to ensure early disposal of the accumulated rainwater.
