KARACHI: Four more persons died in rain-related incidents in the metropolis on Saturday, taking the death toll to seven since Friday afternoon when the city had received the first showers of the winter season.

Nawaz Khan, 28, died from electrocution while walking through a puddle of rainwater in Sector 15/A/5 in Shadman Town, according to the Taimuria police.

In another incident, Hasnain, 8, died from electrocution on the main road at City Railway Colony, said officials at the Mithadar police station.

Haris Yamin Memon, 28, died from electrocution while he was passing through a large puddle of rainwater near Azad Ground in Bantwa Nagar, Block-3 of Federal B Area. A senior police officer, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that a 11kV electric cable had snapped and fallen into the water accumulated near the victim’s residence. He said K-Electric officials were called in to prevent more tragedies. They switched off the area feeder and cut wire before retrieving his body from the rainwater.

Six persons sustained injuries when the roof of a building collapsed in T&T Colony. The injured were shifted to the JPMC. The condition of a woman, Shahnaz, was said to be serious, said Dr Jamali, adding that she received injuries on her head.

In Lines Area, 30-year-old Jamal died from electrocution, confirmed Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the JPMC, where his body was brought for a post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, Karachi police chief Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar asked the DIGs and SSPs to ensure that DSPs and SHOs remain on roads in their respective areas and coordinate with traffic police to assist citizens facing snarl-up due to the rain.

The DSPs and SHOs were also directed to coordinate with local administration to monitor the situation of low-lying settlements along the storm-water drains. They were asked to remain vigilant and shift the people to safer places in case of any alarming situation.

Intermittent showers brought with them electricity problems mostly in Korangi, Malir and Garden East areas. Residents of some blocks of Federal B Area, North Nazimabad and Gulshan-i-Iqbal also experienced outages.

However, K-Electric said they were able to respond well to keep the supply problems under control and at a minimum. “Our teams remained active and the overall power supply system remained intact. KE’s Rapid Response teams remained fully available and committed to restore any disruptions in power supply in the affected areas,” said a KE spokesperson. Most of the feeders were normalised within a few hours, while uninterrupted supply to strategic installations, including the airport and Dhabeji pumping station was ensured, he added.The rain that had started on Friday continued intermittently on Saturday, pulling down the temperature by seven degrees Celsius during the day.

Responding to Dawn queries, a Met official said the city was expected to receive almost similar weather conditions on Sunday also. He said that rain with gusty winds was expected at a few places in Karachi division and at isolated places in Larkana, Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad divisions and Dadu district.

The Karachiites felt the cold weather during the day when the temperature dropped to 15.8 degrees Celsius, whereas the maximum temperature the previous day had been recorded at 23.5 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature recorded in the city was 13 degrees Celsius. Humidity, or amount of moisture in the air, was 89 per cent in the evening.

The main business districts of Saddar, I.I. Chundrigar Road, M.A. Jinnah Road remained closed with thin traffic on roads, as most of the public transport also remained off the roads. Rainwater had accumulated in the low-lying areas and at some places along Sharea Faisal, M. A. Jinnah Road, Sarwar Shaheed Road, Nishtar Road, Mithadar, Kharadar, Empress Market, University Road, Nazimabad, Golimar and Lyari.

The situation was even worse at places, particularly in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Nazimabad, where roads had been dug up by the authorities for development work.

The Met official said PAF Base Faisal received 52mm rainfall, which was the maximum rainfall recorded in the city, followed by Nazimabad with 46mm, Pehalwan Goth (36mm), University Road (35mm), North Karachi (33.5mm) and Gulshan-i-Hadeed (7mm).

A few other towns of the province also received showers. Dadu received 10.2mm rainfall, Thatta (3.2mm), Larkana (3.2mm), Jacobabad (1mm) while Mirpurkhas, Mithi, Chhore, Badin, Hyderabad, Rohri and Moenjodaro received traces of rain.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2017