MIRPURKHAS: Heavy rain coupled with gusty winds and lightning battered Mirpurkhas, Thar, Badin and Sanghar in lower Sindh region on Thursday, uprooting trees and signboards and causing pleasant change in weather.

In Mirpurkhas city and adjoining areas, the rain provided heat-stricken people respite by bringing down temperature and ending severe heat for last three months. Strong winds uprooted several trees and signboards at many places across the district. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Many people, mostly youth and children, came out of their houses and enjoyed rainfall in flooded roads and streets.

Growers too expressed joy at the rainfall and said that they badly needed water for their standing crops of chilli and cotton. They also urged director of Nara Canal to end rotation programme despite having enough water in Jamrao canal.

MITHI: It rained moderately in Mithi, Islamkot, Chelhar near Chhachhro and their adjoining areas in Tharparkar district on Wednesday evening.

The area people said that the rain at this time of the year appeared to be answer to their prayers as it had brought to an end extreme hot weather and provided them with life-giving water.

They hoped that if it continued to rain in their areas in coming days and weeks they would be able to cultivate traditional crops and grow enough fodder for livestock.

BADIN: Heavy and light showers lashed Badin and adjoining towns of Kadhan, Seerani, Khoski, Nindo Shaher and their outskirts on Wednesday, ridding people of days of sizzling hot weather. It had started raining lightly in Badin at 8.30 pm and continued for over an hour.

SANGHAR: Light rain coupled with strong winds lashed Sanghar, Khipro, Shahdadpur, Tando Adam, Shahpur Chakar, Sinjhoro and their adjourning areas on Thursday.

The rain brought an end to hot and humid weather and subsided temperature, making weather pleasant.

Massive dust storm hits Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A massive dust storm with drizzle lashed the city and other towns of the district for around half an hour but it did not rain afterwards while Met office forecast rain for Hyderabad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There was lightning in the sky but it was followed by only light drizzle at around 10pm. The sky was overcast and it appeared ready to rain anytime but it did not. The dust storm that started at around 8pm and continued for around 30 minutes affected visibility for some time.

The storm’s speed was recorded at 30km per hour and humidity in the air at 46pc, according to local Meteorological office. It forecast rain in Hyderabad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The dust storm led to disruption in power supply in the areas where it had been restored after loadshedding hours. People had been facing severe heat for last several days and Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) has only contributed to making the matters worse by failing to control frequent power breakdowns.

Residents of Latifabad Unit-5 claimed that there was no electricity for last three days and power outage continued for 10 days in Noorani Basti. Similar complaints were received from Jinnah Colony — a katchi abadi in Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) — which was without a transformer for last 10 to 15 days.

Consumers claimed that hide and seek of electricity usually goes on throughout the day. Hesco claimed that its feeders tripped or trees fell on power supply network, disrupting electricity supply. It took hours to restore supply, said a Hesco official.

A Hesco spokesman said that 103 feeders were those which provided electricity supply to areas other than Hyderabad including Nawabshah, Sanghar, Shahdadpur, Tando Adam, Matiari, Shahpur Chakar, Qazi Ahmed, Umerkot, Kandiaro, New Saeedabad, Hala etc.

Power cuts continued in several areas and as per Hesco spokesman’s statement 103 feeders remained without power supply. People of Hyderabad lashed out at Hesco for its poor service delivery but the power utility was yet to show any progress.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2020