07 August 2004	Saturday	20 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

KARACHI, Aug 6: Monsoon rains lashed Karachi and a couple of cities in the interior of Sindh on Friday. The summer monsoon has finally set in and rains will continue intermittently in Sindh over the next 48 hours , the country's top weather expert said on Friday.

"Drought-like conditions were emerging in Balochistan and Sindh. The current rain spell will stop these conditions from worsening," director-general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department Dr Qamaruzzaman Chaudhry told Dawn on Friday night. A spokesman for the Met Office said Chhor received 24mm of rain (by 5pm), Hyderabad 16mm and Karachi 5mm.

MIRPURKHAS: Parts of Sindh received heavy rains on Friday, bringing relief to people from sultry weather. The farming community was happy because the rain washed layers of dust which had gathered on leaves of cotton and other crops.

However, the rain affected the supply of power to lower Sindh from the Hala grid station. A large number of trees were uprooted due to the thunder storm which accompanied the rain.

SANGHAR: Rain coupled with strong winds lashed parts of the district on Friday. It started to rain at about 5:22 pm and continued for about 40 minutes. Jhol, Sinjhoro, Shahdadpur, Shahpur Chakar and Tando Adam received rains.