KARACHI, Sept 10: Two persons drowned and another one electrocuted as torrential rains lashed most parts of the city on Saturday morning. The Met Office recorded 22mm rains in the hours-long spell which continued beyond noon.

Almost entire city received moderate to heavy rains which badly disrupted life, affecting mainly the city’s transport system and power and water supply networks. The disruption, coupled with the virtual collapse of sewerage system, added to the miseries of citizens.

About casualties, Edhi Foundation sources said that one, Gul Tareen, 18, drowned after slipping into a storm-water drains near Shafiq Morr in North Karachi whereas the other person who drowned in a similar drains near Sohrab Goth could not be identified immediately. The third victim, Furqan, 45, was electrocuted as he got trapped in the range of live power cable that had fallen off a pole in Azizabad. His body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in an Edhi Foundation ambulance.

Public transport across the city remained thin in the morning as all roads were inundated. However, movement of vehicular traffic increased gradually when it stopped rainsing in the afternoon. Due to stagnant water on roads elsewhere in the city, the number of public transport vehicles remained much less than normal. Resultantly, crowds of people were seen waiting for transport means at most of the intersections.

According to the Met Office, a fresh low-pressure area has entered the eastern parts of India from the Bay of Bengal and, at present, is heading westwards. Under its influence, the monsoon currents are continuously penetrating into Pakistan (Sindh and Punjab) to cause widespread rainss, with isolated heavy falls, expected in lower Sindh, including Karachi, during the week.

Met officials said that Karachi airport received 21.2mm rains, while PAF Base Faisal received 17mm and North Karachi 22.5mm on Saturday. Many low-lying areas in and around the city were inundated.

The fire brigade department has apprehended that the strong currents of water gushing through the catchment areas of the rains-fed Lyari and Malir rivers might cause damage to their embankments. As a precautionary measure, the population along both the banks of the two rivers had been shifted to a relief camp set up in the Government Boys and Girls Secondary School in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

The Met office described the current spell as a normal but delayed monsoon rains, indicating that in Karachi, monsoon normally starts from July 15 and concludes on Sept 15.

The city’s weather had already turned pleasant after the first but brief showers on Friday evening. It turned even better after Saturday’s heavy downpour.

The maximum temperature, which was recorded at 36.9 degree Centigrade on Friday, dropped to 29 degree Centigrade on Saturday, with 77 per cent humidity. Cloudy weather with chances of more rainss on Sunday has been forecast.