Karachi and other part of Sindh are expected to receive widespread rain with thunder and windstorms from today which will likely continue till July 5, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Saturday.
A weather advisory issued by the department, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said that monsoon currents have started entering eastern Sindh and were likely to become stronger in the upcoming days.
Under the influence of this weather system, it said, heavy and very heavy falls along with thunderstorms were likely to occur from today till July 5 in Tharparker, Umarkot, Sanghar, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allayar, Dadu, Jamshoro districts and Karachi Division.
Separately, scattered rains with isolated heavy falls were expected in Nawabshah, Noshero Feroz, Khairpur, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Ghotki, and Kashmore districts.
The Met Office has warned the rains could cause urban flooding in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Dadu districts from July 3 to July 5.
Meanwhile, windstorms may damage loose and vulnerable structures including billboards, signboards, trees etc. Sea conditions will be rough during this period and fishermen should be extra careful during this period, the advisory added.
Earlier this week, chief meteorologist Sardar Sarfaraz told Dawn.com that different areas in Sindh were expected to experience rain under monsoon spells between July 1 and July 15 and Karachi, in particular, would receive rainfall under its second monsoon spell on July 7 or July 8.
This second rain spell was expected to continue for three to four days, he added.
On June 23, Karachi had witnessed an unexpected pre-monsoon downpour. The showers had inundated roads and left many areas without electricity for hours.
Four persons, including three children, were reported dead in rain-related incidents at the time.
Urban flooding threat may wash down ‘cosmetic’ govt measures
Ahead of the rains, the Sindh government had declared that 90 per cent of Karachi’s 41 big storm drains and 514 of their tributaries had been cleaned out.
However, speaking to Dawn, researcher and technical expert Mohammed Sirajuddin, who heads the Technical Training Resource Centre which has been carrying out extensive surveys along several nullahs, pointed to the fact that heavy rains would still result in urban flooding in Karachi despite all the cleaning being done at the drains.
“There have been diggers at work. Besides cleaning the drains, they have also created diversions for the water to flow out. But despite all that, the silt and other rubbish taken out of there is not enough. There is still a lot more of that from where it came from. Even the culverts in the drains have not been cleaned enough and they are still blocked so a heavy downpour in all such areas will result in urban flooding,” he explained.
