KARACHI: Widespread showers in most districts of the interior of Sindh played havoc with electricity network and caused a considerable drop in the temperatures, besides crippling the routine life and badly affecting educational, trade, business and commercial activities.

Light and moderate showers started lashing upper Sindh districts of Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kandhkot-Kashmore and some parts of lower Sindh including Karachi, on Friday and were continuing on Saturday evening.

Most bazaars, markets, commercial streets and business and trade centres wore a deserted look on Saturday as severe cold coupled with showers and power outages kept people generally indoors.

Public and private transport means on arterial roads and highways also remained thin. Intercity buses and coaches found a negligible number of travellers while goods transport operators mostly avoided slippery roads that at many places were inundated in rainwater or turned highly risky.

HYDERABAD: Light drizzle in Hyderabad district turned weather pleasant on Saturday. It started drizzling in the afternoon and continued till evening intermittently bringing down the mercury to 16 degree centigrade.

Most parts of the city went without electricity at 8am as, according to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), six feeders supplying power to the Phulelli, Latifabad and Qasimabad areas stopped functioning and maintenance work could not be carried out amid drizzle while another seven were shut down as a precautionary measure.

DADU: The entire district received intermittent spells of light, moderate and heavy rain throughout the day on Saturday causing a massive outage running into 13 hours till the evening. Most parts of the district were still without power at 8pm.

Low-lying areas remained inundated paralysing the transport system and making people to stop their business and trade activities for the day.

SUKKUR: Widespread rain and strong winds hit Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Ghotki and Kandhkot-Kashmore district on Friday evening leaving roads, streets, highways, markets, bazzars, shopping malls and other public places deserted.

Electricity in the rural areas of each district went off as soon as it started raining and could not be restored till late Saturday. The urban areas also experienced 12 hours of outage followed by several breakdowns of varying durations.

The power outages badly affected water supply and drainage system in the districts. Rainwater stopped flushing into the choked drains aggravating flooding of roads and streets.

In most areas, gas supply was disrupted and the routine loadshedding being effected by the utility on a daily basis was increased by several hours. People faced hardship in cooking at home while commercial outlets remained closed due to rain, flooding and severe cold.

KHAIRPUR: The routine life across the district remained paralysed by rain and cold weather since Friday evening. All roads and streets wore a deserted look and no business, trade and commercial outlet opened on Saturday as people mostly remained indoors. Vehicular traffic also stayed by and large off the road. The entire district remained without electricity for 24 hours.

The situation remained unchanged till the filing of this story in the evening.

Growers of Khairpur say they expect the rain to benefit their sugar cane and wheat crops.

MIRPURKHAS: A cold wave swept through Mirpurkhas division as strong winds couple with light showers hit the entire southern region on Saturday morning.

All business, trade and commercial activities came to a grinding halt while power supply to Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Sanghar, Tando Allayar and many other areas remained suspended for many hours. Gas supply in the division was also badly affected.

While growers of the district had already been under tremendous pressure from sugar mills for an uninterrupted supply of sugar cane, the rain has created serious problems of labour and transportation availability. Many labourers are unable to continue working in fields to harvest the crop and the others have increased their wage. Transporters have also stopped plying most of their vehicles because of risky driving on inundated or slippery roads.

Affected growers, including Moosa Maher, Mohammed Ismail, Badar Alam and Aijaz Panhwer, say that the crushing season is at its peak and the rain has badly disturbed their supply schedule. The weather conditions have posed a serious threat to their standing crop.

MITHI: Intermittent showers that hit Tharparkar and Badin districts on Saturday morning and continued into the evening turned weather very cold and caused closure of all markets, bazaars and shops. People mostly remained indoors and vehicular traffic off the road.

Both districts experience serious disruption in ppower supply throughout the day.

NAUSHAHRO FEROZE: Light and moderate rain started lashing the entire district on Friday evening and it was still raining when this report was filed on Saturday evening.

Reports of power outages from almost all towns and most of the rural areas were received.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2017