KARACHI, July 26: The city received the first monsoon showers on Tuesday, causing the mercury to drop by several notches within minutes. Other parts of Sindh were also lashed by the monsoon showers.

Though eagerly awaited, the scattered rain caused the usual problems for the people of Karachi, such as power feeders and grids breaking down in quick succession and flooding hitting city roads where the sewerage is clogged.

The pre-rain temperature in Karachi was 35 degrees centigrade which dropped to 28 degrees centigrade after the monsoon showers.

The average amount of rainfall — which lasted between 10 and 15 minutes in different areas of the city — was said to be 3.5 millimetres.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department had predicted a rain-, dust- or thunder-storm in many parts of Sindh, including Karachi, for Sunday or Monday following strong monsoon currents reaching most parts of the country.

A PMD official in Karachi told Dawn that the rainfall, which started around 6.30pm, was less than one millimetre in Gulshan-i-Hadeed, Nazimabad, the Masroor airbase and North Karachi. He added that 4.4mm rainfall was recorded on University Road, 2mm in Saddar, 3mm at the PAF Faisal base and 7.2mm at the airport.

According to the Met Office, weather in Karachi will remain partly cloudy, with chances of a rain- or thunder-storm with gusty winds on Wednesday.