KARACHI: The second spell of monsoon rains lashed most cities, towns and villages of southern Sindh on Wednesday. Several spells of heavy, moderate and light showers brought down the temperature a little but humidity created suffocating atmosphere in the affected areas.

Vehicular traffic in cities and towns gradually went off the roads while food outlets and shops — allowed to remain open after closing time pulled back on account of lockdown — had to pull down the shutters as rainwater forced customers to return home early. Low-lying areas were inundated and most people faced immense hardship due to suspension of electric supply to their areas.

In Hyderabad, the second spell of rain lashed most areas for about 25 minutes on Wednesday evening.

The Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) suspended power supply to the rain-hit areas as a precautionary measure.

Power went off as soon as it started raining and was not restored till late in the evening.

A Hesco spokesman said that 45 feeders in Hyderabad city were shut down for safety purpose and 18 of them re-energised after some time. Elsewhere in the Hesco region, 65 feeders were closed for the same purpose and 12 of them re-energised in the evening, he added.

The disruption in power supply affected functioning of water and sewerage installations of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), according to its managing director, Muzaffar Memon.

Sanghar district received moderate rainfall on Wednesday. It rained for about half an hour in Sanghar city and its surrounding areas.

In addition to rainwater accumulating on roads and in streets, a prolonged power outage crippled routine life and caused various issues to traders, housewives and other citizens.

Most villages’ electric supply was discontinued with the first spell of rain on Monday evening. They remained without power till late Wednesday evening.

Mirpurkhas district received drizzle on Tuesday night turning weather humid though a little better than it had been for about eight weeks.

In most areas, hot and humid weather persisted and power outages in cities, towns and villages added to citizens’ miseries.

In Hameedpura Colony, a large number of people took to the streets and held a noisy protest against Hesco for failing to reduce the frequency and length of the outages.

Some Hesco officers visiting the colony during a prolonged outage were grabbed and manhandled by the protesters on Tuesday night. After failing to satisfy them with their arguments regarding causes of the extensive loadshedding and frequent breakdowns, they tried to leave the colony but some of the enraged protesters caught hold of them and thrashed them until they managed to flee the area. Police had to intervene to bring the situation under control.

The protesters continued to raise slogans around the burning tyres that had been placed in the middle of a main road. Later, Advocate Adnan Khurram, the vice president of Mirpurkhas District Bar Association, along with the City DSP held negotiations with protesters and Hesco officials and persuaded the people to end their protest.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2020