KARACHI, Aug 17: Thursday’s unexpected heavy downpour completely paralyzed civic life in old city areas and caused severe flooding on all the main and link roads submerging many houses in congested areas.

Traffic on all routes leading to the old city areas remained clogged and many people remained stuck in their vehicles and there was knee-deep water in several areas.

It is observed that there was not any planning at any level for the rescue of rain affected people and all claims of authorities made earlier for speedy disposal of stagnant water had not made the situation different.

Kharadar, Mithadar, Nanakwara, Bhimpura, Jamila Street and Ranshore lane were the worst affected areas as rain water entered narrow streets and lanes forcing people to shut their shops and businesses.

The situation in Lyari as even worst where disposal system had already collapsed during the previous intermittent rains and civic authorities failed to rectify the faults in the system.

When contacted, Lyari Town Nazim Malik Mohammd Fayyaz said rains had completely damaged many roads in the locality and admitted there was no any emergency plan to handle the situation.

According to him, the Union Council areas of UC-4 ( Khadda-Nawabad), UC-5 (Baghdadi) and UC-6 are the worst affected. The main routes of these localities, including Shah Latif Bhittai Road and Shah Waliullah Road and its link roads had been washed away which included Haji Pir Mohammad Road, Fidha Husain Shah Road, Ahmed Shah Bukhari roads.

He pointed out that overflowing gutters, chocked drains and a dilapidated sewerage system had aggravated the situation in the locality, saying “we are not getting proper response from the City Government and the KWSB for overcoming these chronic problems.

The Nazim maintained that the situation may assume disastrous proportions over the next few days if corrective measures are not taken.

He criticized the role of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board for not extending any cooperation to solve the water and sewerage problems of the town.