• 20 die in KP, 10 in Karachi in rain-related incidents
• PM, Sindh CM vow to collectively meet challenges
• Imran directs PTI lawmakers to coordinate with institutions for relief work
• Several Karachi areas still submerged and without electricity
• Erratic cellular, internet services annoy citizens
• Met Office forecasts another heavy system heading towards metropolis, other districts of province

KARACHI/PESHAWAR: With 20 people losing their lives to flash floods triggered by cloudbursts overnight in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and another 10 in Karachi on Friday, the residents of the disaster-hit Sindh capital woke up to the gravity of the situation with power supply suspended in several areas, an erratic cellular service, broken internet system and many localities still submerged, leading Prime Minister Imran Khan and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to make the first direct contact for making collective efforts to meet the challenges.

As Thursday’s record-breaking spell of monsoon rains played havoc with the infrastructure of Karachi and other parts of Sindh, the weather remained calm on Friday with light-to-moderate showers mostly on the outskirts.

However, the metropolis was reeling from the damage of heavy rains poured a day before as 10 more people died on Friday in rain-related incidents, including electrocution and drowning. With fresh casualties, the death toll in the four-day showers has jumped to 40.

Although several major roads and thoroughfares were mostly cleared by Friday morning after nightlong operation by the civil and military organisations, many localities remained submerged as the city faced another challenge — crippled cellular services and severed a power supply system.

The city’s sole power utility, K-Electric, cited flooding and rainwater as the reason behind delay in power supply restoration. By the evening it claimed to have fixed 80 per cent of the feeders which were tripped after Thursday’s heavy downpour.

“Several areas remain inaccessible due to high water levels,” the company said in a statement. “The KE teams are working round the clock to restore power as swiftly as possible. Several KE vehicles became stranded while attempting to reach affected areas such as DHA and Surjani. While power has been restored where possible, the KE teams are coordinating with the relevant authorities to ensure swift power restoration to other locations. Power will continue to remain closed until all standing water is cleared,” it added.

The power supply failure cost the Karachiites the key cellular service. Already going through the anxious wait for power supply restoration, the people found themselves with little means to contact friends, family members and co-workers as almost all cellular networks turned out of service in the wee hours of Friday morning.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) later came up with a statement saying that cellular services in Karachi were facing outages because of the massive power breakdown. “Due to prolonged power failure in the city, many radio-based stations of the cellular companies are out of service and their generators are also down due to non-supply of fuel,” said a spokesman for the PTA.

The cellular service started normalising by Friday evening.

The chaos-like situation brought the provincial and federal governments together for damage control and to find a way forward to get the business capital to normal.

Chief Minister Shah disclosed his contact with Prime Minister Khan after the fresh spell of rains and appreciated the Centre’s response to his appeal for help and support. He also announced that the prime minister would visit Karachi next week.

“The prime minister has said he will come to Karachi next week,” CM Shah said at a press conference. “He [prime minister] has assured the Sindh government of extending all-out assistance and cooperation to compensate the losses and carry out relief work in the affected areas. It’s everyone’s loss and we all have to fix it. These were not just heavy rains; it’s a disaster. The province is witnessing the worst monsoon of its history. So this crisis situation demands extraordinary measures,” he added.

Flanked by provincial ministers, Mr Shah admitted that the residents had faced huge losses due to the record-breaking rain but assured that his government was making efforts to drain out the rainwater in submerged areas and many areas had been cleared of the rainwater.

His assurance and efforts, however, are likely to face another challenge as the Met office predicted another heavy system returning to the province, including Karachi.

“Another monsoon rain-bearing system is likely to enter Sindh on Saturday,” the Met office said in a statement. “Under the influence of this system, rain, wind and thundershowers, with isolated heavy-to-very heavy falls, are expected in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Shaheed Benazirabad, Dadu, Tharparker, Nagarparker, Mirpurkhas, Islamkot, Umar Kot, Sanghar, Sukkur and Larkana from Saturday (evening) to Monday. Heavy rainfall may further aggravate existing urban flooding/water logging in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Badin on Sunday and Monday,” it added.

As Karachi started limping back to normalcy to some extent by Friday evening, the prime minister came up with a resolve to fix the city’s issue through a “comprehensive strategy”.

The fresh resolve from PM Khan came during a meeting of the PTI legislators from Karachi held at the Governor House where he addressed them through a video link. The meeting reviewed the situation emerging after the record-breaking rain and discussed ways of solving the city’s problems.

According to a statement issued by the Governor House, the meeting was attended by the MNAs and MPAs belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf as well as Governor Imran Ismail. The PTI lawmakers briefed the prime minister on the current situation in Karachi and their role in meeting the challenge. The meeting was also briefed on the plight of the people of low-lying areas of the city.

“The prime minister asked the PTI legislators to make sure their presence in their constituencies and utilise every possible resource for relief and rescue of the affected people,” said the statement.

“He also directed the MNAs and MPAs to coordinate with the institutions concerned to devise a strategy for immediate relief efforts in poor neighbourhoods and low-lying areas. The prime minister showed resolve that the federal government would not let down the people of Karachi and in this regard a comprehensive strategy is being devised to solve problems of the city,” it added.

20 people killed

At least 20 people were killed and nine others injured in flash floods triggered by cloud bursts in different parts of KP overnight, officials said.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority said deaths were reported in Swat, Upper Kohistan and Shangla districts.

Eleven people lost their lives and nine suffered injuries when flash floods swept away two remote villages in Madyan valley of Swat. Seven members of a family were killed in Upper Kohistan and two others in Shangla.

“The Karakoram Highway is blocked at three points and dozens of villages are inundated in different parts of the district. Rescue and rehabilitation operation has been started with the support of the Frontier Works Organisation and police,” Upper Kohistan Deputy Commissioner Arif Yusufzai told reporters on Friday.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2020