KARACHI, Dec 4: Intermittent rains lashed the city on Monday piling miseries upon millions of Karachiites as almost all major arteries were submerged. Life in the metropolis was crippled to the extent that most of the educational institutions observed an undeclared holiday, though the city received average 53mm rainfall during the past 36 hours.

Attendance in government and private sector offices remained thin as people woke to another cloudy day giving an indication of heavy rainfall and forcing most of the office-goers to remain indoors. Commercial centres and major markets gave a chaotic scene as the rain water played havoc with goods inside the shops.

While portions of many major arteries Sharea Faisal, I.I. Chundrigarh Road, M.A. Jinnah Road, Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Korangi Road, Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Karimabad Road, Jehangir Road were inundated, there were puddles of muddy water and sewage in almost every locality of the city.

Pedestrians and motorcyclists were the worst-hit as the passing vehicles splattered their clothes with water inundated on roads. Hurling of expletives on the motorists was a common scene.

People placed bricks and stones on the submerged streets and lanes in many residential localities to keep them away from the filth and mud. Yet, it was not an easy task for the children, women and elderly people to toddle over the makeshift crossings.

Nonetheless, the Pakistan Meteorological Department came up with good news and said the worst was already over and there would be no more rain in the coming days.

Naeem Shah of met office told Dawn that a westerly low pressure system which approached the region from Iran three days ago had caused the rain. “The system has almost passed on and it is heading towards upper Sindh and Punjab,” he added.

The met official, however, said the weather would remain partly cloudy with no chances of rains.

The city has experienced rainfall at regular intervals since Saturday when the low pressure covered the provincial capital. The met official said that the city received average 53.3 mm rainfall till 8pm on Monday. “About 24mm rain was recorded during an hour long spell between 2:30pm and 3:30pm on Monday,” he added.

The showers also brought down temperature to 13.8 degrees centigrade while the maximum temperature was recorded 20.5 degrees centigrade. The humidity was 95 per cent. The weatherman said the temperatures would range from 14 to 20 degrees centigrade on Tuesday.

Almost every part of the city was inundated due to light to moderate rains. In various localities, people took the task of draining out rainwater from their house and shops which were flooded notwithstanding the tall claims regarding road drainage system made by the city administrators in the recent past.

Several roads and streets in salubrious neighbourhoods of Defence and Clifton remained inundated with ankle-deep rainwater and overflowing sewage. The government buildings, schools and colleges continued to lurch in mess with no sanitary staff in sight.

On instructions from the City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, the KWSB had kicked off its drain cleaning drive a few days back after the monsoon rains wreaked havoc with the city. However, due to winter rains drains in Lyari, Saddar, Jamshed, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, New Karachi, North Nazimabad, Malir, Landhi and Korangi, Gujjar Nullah, Manzoor Colony, Kalri, Chakura and Urdu Bazaar remained choked.

CONVOCATIONS PUT OFF: Heavy winter rains compelled two public sector universities to postpone their respective convocations.