RAINWATER accumulated under the bridge near the railway station in Hyderabad causes trouble to commuters on Monday.—APP
RAINWATER accumulated under the bridge near the railway station in Hyderabad causes trouble to commuters on Monday.—APP

KARACHI: Several spells of heavy, moderate and light rain lashed almost all districts of Sindh during the last 24 hours, reports received from across the province by Monday evening suggested. There were widespread complaints of power outages running from two to 24 hours.

In Hyderabad, back-to-back spells of rain started at around 1am on Monday and continued into the evening. After the first brief spell, it rained for 30 minutes at dawn and then for 25 minutes at around 2.30pm.

Besides disrupting routine life in the city, the showers badly affected the electricity distribution network as well as the water supply and drainage systems.

The sky remained overcast throughout the day and into the evening.

Standing sewage mixed with rainwater turned all roads, streets and lanes in the low-lying areas impassable.

Power supply suspended with the first drop of rain at around 1am could not be restored in many areas till Monday evening. The Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) said that initially 67 feeders were shut due to rain but the system started returning to normality by morning and only seven feeders were kept closed at different grid stations. However, it added, the third spell of rain prompted the utility to shut down 36 feeders again to avoid any major problem in the system.

Due to the power outages, supply of drinking water to consumers from the Jamshoro, Paretabad, Hala Naka and Latifabad filtration plants was stopped. The sewerage system in Latifabad and Qasimabad also did not function for want of electricity.

The Meteorological office in Hyderabad recorded around 4.7mm rainfall in the city areas and 6mm in the airport area.

SUKKUR: Residents of Sukkur, which received light showers a little before 5pm on Sunday, remained without water and power on Monday.

Electricity in the entire city went off with the start of the rain and was not restored in most areas before 5pm on Monday. The city was pushed into a crisis-like situation as no water supply was made since Sunday evening owing to unavailability of electricity while people were unable to operate domestic power motors to fill their overhead tanks with subsoil water. Canals have already stopped flowing as annual cleaning of the irrigation system is under way these days.

The 24-hour electricity outage coupled with unavailability of water crippled civic life in the city as most people could not prepare themselves for work. Most students also could not make it to their educational institutions.

Sukkur Democratic Alliance (SDA) chairman Haji Mohammad Jawed Memon in a press statement severely criticised the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) for deliberately suspending power supply for 24 hours on different pretexts to cover its line losses. He observed that Sepco had been in the practice of effecting outages of long durations as a daily routine.

KHAIRPUR: A 20-hour electricity breakdown that occurred with the start of light rain in the district and its adjoining areas on Sunday evening kept the routine line paralysed till Monday evening.

The entire district has already been experiencing low gas pressure for several weeks and increased cold due to the rain added to people’s miseries. Most areas of the district also did not receive water while power motors did not function and pumping could not be done.

Local Sepco officials said many feeders in the district tripped due to the rain. All business, trade and commercial activities in the district were badly affected due to the water, power and gas cuts.

Attendance at educational institutions remained thin and normal activity at shopping centres, markets and bazaars was missing.

MIRPURKHAS: A hailstorm lasting for 10 minutes or so pounded several areas of Mirpurkhas city and its adjoining towns while it rained intermittently across the district from early morning till sunset.

The rainfall, coupled with thunderstorm, turned low-lying areas into deep pools of sewage mixed with water as drainage system in most areas had stopped working owing to several power outages of long durations.

Vehicular traffic went off the roads as soon as it started raining while streets and lanes wore a deserted look during and after the showers.

Similar conditions were witnessed at markets, bazaars and commercial streets.

BADIN: Most areas of Badin district received light to moderate rain disrupting the routine life in Tando Bago, Matli, Talhar, Tando Ghulam Ali and other towns.

SANGHAR: Several spells of moderate to heavy rain lashed the entire Sanghar district on Monday with some areas also receiving hailstorm.

Most feeders of the power utility were either shut down or developed fault causing a day-long outage in many towns of the district. Electricity in some areas could not be restored till late in the evening as it was still raining.

NAWABSHAH: Widespread rain was also reported in Nawabshah, Jam Sahab, Daur, Sakrand, Qazi Ahmed, 60-Miles, Bandhi, Nawab Wali Mohammed, Daulatpur and other towns.

The rain-hit areas experienced power outages of up to 14 hours which also paralysed civic life throughout the day.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2019

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