July 04, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 18, 1428

MIRPURKHAS, July 3: Weather continues to wreck havoc with three killed and six injured by lightning late on Monday night as heavy rains accompanied by strong winds lash the coastal district of Thatta and several other districts of the province on Tuesday.

Lightning struck dead Rehmatullah Kapri, 30, near Umerkot, and Jeevan, 30, a bus conductor, near Jhuddo town. Intermittent rain led to disruption in supply of water and power and affected business activities.

All the main markets in Mirpukhas, Shahi bazaar, Khisakpura, Hilal market, Grain market, Cloth market and many shopping centres shuttered down shops the moment it started pouring down.

The prices of vegetables and fruits skyrocketed due to short supply in local market after the growers found it difficult to transport their produce to the city.

A resident of Umerkot, Allah Bux Arisar, told Dawn that dozens of villages in Kunri and Umerkot talukas had been plunged in darkness for three days after the windstorm uprooted a large number of electricity poles.

The rains damaged hundreds of houses in Hussain Bux Mari, Mirpurkhas and Sindhri talukas.

A man died and ten others suffered injuries when lightning hit a motorcycle-rickshaw and a bus in separate incidents in Badin late on Monday night.

Reports reaching here said that Abdul Qadir Khaskheli, 20, died when lightning hit a bus near Tando Bago. Four other passengers were also injured.

In another incident, Abdul Razzaq Soomro, 20, Asad Ali Soomro, 21, Ali Mohammad Soomro, 24, Ghulam Nabi Mallah, 30, Abdul Jabber Soomro, 25, and Mohammad Hanif, 24, were seriously injured when lightning hit their motorcycle-rickshaw, about a kilometre from the city.

The injured were moved to Civil Hospital. Heavy rains with lightning and thunderstorm preceded by light drizzling since 5:00 pm started pouring down from 7 pm and continued up till 8:15 pm.

In the coastal area of Thatta district, a peasant woman Hawa Khaskheli, 40, died of gastroenteritis in Raj Shaikh Bachal village of Jati taluka and 40 others contracted the disease after an outbreak of the disease in the wake of heavy rains. Condition of ten patients is said to be serious.

The EDO of health, Dr Dawood Hillayo, claimed to have despatched a doctors’ team to the affected village but the villagers rebutted his claim saying that no team had arrived in the area.

The coastal towns of Shah Bunder, Jati, Chuhar Jamali, Laadion, Jungo Jalbani, Mirpur Sakro, Mirpur Bathoro, Daro, Jhoke Sharif, Sujawal and Bannu received torrential rain, which left the low-lying areas in and around the towns submerged in knee-deep water. It continued to rain till the filing of this report.

People’s Party Parliamentarians MPAs Humera Alwani and Sassui Palijo claimed that hundreds of people were still marooned in far-off coastal areas and were waiting for help but none had come their way so far.

Sewerage system collapsed in Sanghar city and all the towns of the district in the wake of heavy rains and the farmers urged the government and irrigation authorities to clear the LBOD drain before it could pose a danger to their areas.

They said the drain had caused devastation last year and demanded that the government should take action against the influential landlords who had made cuts into the drain to save their crops.