KARACHI: The city remained under thick and dark clouds with early hours’ drizzling in different parts of the metropolis on Thursday, a day after the heavy rains wreaked havoc on the city’s ill-maintained electricity and sewerage systems.

The Meteorological office warned that the current downpour system was “very likely to intensify in the next 24 hours”, producing moderate to heavy rains in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

An official at the Met office said that only “a few parts of the city” received moderate showers on second day of the fresh monsoon spell as most areas remainder under frequent drizzling throughout the day. He said that district South of the city received moderate rain for a brief period as mostly light showers were reported in the metropolis.

However, he referred to a fresh advisory released by the Met office which suggested that the current spell of the monsoon was not yet over, warning the civic and municipal authorities about the upcoming challenge.

Private schools’ association indecisive on closure issue

“The prevailing spell of rain in Sindh is very likely to intensify in the next 24 hours, producing moderate to heavy rains in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, Thatta, Jamshoro, Dadu, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Naushahro Feroze, Badin, Sanghar and Larkana districts during Thursday evening to Friday evening,” he quoted the advisory as saying.

“Due to heavy rainfall in the range of 50-70mm [from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon], the situation of urban flooding in Karachi may further aggravate on Friday, with waterlogging in low-lying areas of the city. The authorities concerned of Sindh/Karachi are advised to take the precautionary measures accordingly.”

Meanwhile, many city roads and low-lying localities remained flooded on Thursday, creating problems both for the residents and travellers.

Private schools

Again, as there was no announce­ment from the government for the schools’ closure on Friday, an association of private educational institutions stayed indecisive about their plan while announcing to keep schools open, but at the same time kept their options open should the weather situation take a turn for the worse.

“After closely analysing the current weather situation, we hereby announce to open schools tomorrow [Friday]. If the situation changes overnight, we will update our decision early in the morning,” said a brief statement issued by the All Private Schools Management Association Sindh.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2019