KARACHI, July 7: A total traffic mess prevailed on several city arteries, including the busy Sharea Faisal, M. A. Jinnah Road and I. I. Chundrigar Road, on Monday after 3pm as stranded working people rushed to their homes after the rains started making life miserable in the city centre.

The traffic jams followed simultaneous closure of business centres and hundreds of private offices located on the business centre of the city.

As a majority of the motorists chose a particular time to leave for their homes, this resulted in a traffic mess on certain arteries in the main city centre.

The absence of traffic police and mal-functioning of traffic signals put the motorists in a fix as they remained stranded in their vehicles for hours.

The buses and coaches, leaving the city centre, were seen packed to their capacity, with the commuters travelling even on the rooftops of vehicles.

As the entire official machinery failed to control the traffic mess, people had to endure agony, thanks to the inundated roads which were visible owing to lack of proper drainage system in several areas.

Motorists complained that they exhausted fuel and had to again rush to the filling stations as they even could not switch off their cars.

The traffic on Sharea Faisal and I. I. Chundrigar Road is controlled by traffic signals and as water started accumulating at various spots, a number of vehicles broke down and it followed traffic jams at certain points.

Motorists who reached the city centre late in the night, claimed that they witnessed the worst traffic jams on many arteries and thoroughfares as they got stuck up in a deluge of traffic and had to wait for hours to get out of it following heavy rains.

Police, who were not expecting a massive traffic jam on a number of roads, appeared to be helpless in easing the traffic mess for hours at various places on M.A. Jinnah Road, Aga Khan-III road, Zaibunnisa Street, Burnes Road, Garden Road, Soldier Bazaar, Purani Numaish, Guru Mandir, Business Recorder Road, Sharah-i-Iraq, Abdullah Haroon Road, Fountain Chowk, I.I. Chundrigar Road, Shaheen Complex, Metropole roundabout, Sharea Faisal, S.M. Taufiq Road in Liaquatabad, Nawab Siddique Ali Khan Road in Nazimabad, Nishter Road and other arteries and their link roads.

The impact of traffic jams on these arteries affected the entire city as other roads in different areas also turned crowded. As vehicles Children kept on crying as they remained trapped for a long spell in traffic deluge.

A number of people parked their vehicles along the road and walked to their destinations.

As rain-water accumulated on roads, the motorists avoided passing through deep water.

Due to poor visibility during rain, the motorists and public transport moved slowly. As traffic signals went out of order, the drivers tried to cross roads in a haste, that resulted in ultimate traffic jams.

Motorists and commuters, who remained stuck up for more than two to three hours, complained that they did not see traffic police on roads.

The traffic and district police found it difficult to regulate traffic and people remained stuck up in the flood of vehicles for several hours.

A number of calls were received by the traffic police on 915 about traffic congestion.

DIG Traffic Yameen Khan attributed traffic jams to pathetic condition of roads. He said new roads were being built, but no arrangements had been made for drainage of rain-water. He said that accumulation of water at various places would damage roads and thus funds being spent would go to waste.

He said at many places, trees had fallen and electricity poles had been uprooted which had blocked the roads and also led to traffic jams. He said that roads be built by keeping in view the concept of a drainage system also so that rain-water could not accumulate on roads and traffic could run smoothly. All officials of the traffic police, he claimed, were in field and were trying to regulate the traffic.