KARACHI: The Armed Forces were called out last night [July 25] to meet the worst ever rain emergency in Karachi created by the overflowing of the rivers swelled by more than 15 inches of rainfall in 40 hours which ended midnight last night [July 25].

At least 20,000 people were evacuated by the Navy from the areas flooded by the Lyari River along Mirza Adam Khan Road and Azam Basti on the banks of Drigh Deh River.

The Army Sappers and Miners were called in to close the breach in the embankment containing Lyari River along Mirza Adam Khan Road; but the river most of the time in the afternoon was overflowing ... inundating the adjoining areas.

The Army and the Navy worked round the clock to save the City menaced by the floods and evacuating the people from the flooded areas to places of comparative safety.

Several thousand more families needed immediate evacuation and all the available vehicles capable of moving about in the rain-stricken City were thrown in for evacuation.

Motor launches of the Navy, the Police and also the Fishermen’s Co-operative Society were standing by to take over evacuation work from the land transports commandeered for the job.

All the officers of the Karachi Administration and the Karachi Police and the civic agencies were mobilised for relief and rescue operations. Relief camps were opened by the dozens, so also community kitchens for feeding the flood victims.

After 6.35 inches of rains on Monday, the rain-starved City had 7.14 inches more beginning from yesterday afternoon till midnight last night; and the rains were haunting the rain-ravaged City intermittently. About 4,000 people marooned by Monday’s rains needed urgent evacuation and the Navy with pneumatic lifeboats swung [into action] to do the needful. To quicken the pace of evacuation a rope was strung across and the life-boats shuttled back and forth.

With the afternoon downpour Lyari began to swell and late in the afternoon it was overflowing its banks flooding the areas with a population of about 1,00,000 people. A little later the river made a breach in the bund to make matters worse.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2017