KARACHI: Two boys were killed in separate roof collapse incidents and a girl died from electrocution as the city continued to receive light to moderate rains for the third successive day on Wednesday under the ongoing monsoon system.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department predicts more rains with thundershowers on Thursday (today) and Friday (tomorrow).

Most parts of the city started receiving rains early in the morning that continued intermittently till late in the night in many areas.

The Met office recorded mostly light to moderate rain and stuck to its earlier forecast about chances of more rains with thunderstorm under the current weather system.

Met Office says current spell to persist till Friday

According to the Met Office, Surjani Town received 25mm, the heaviest amount of rainfall, followed by Nazimabad 17mm, Gulshan-i-Maymar 16.5mm, PAF Base Masroor 16mm, Saadi Town 12.5mm while in other parts of the city single digit count of rainfall was recorded.

A “weather warning” issued by the Met Office said that monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea were continuously penetrating into Sindh.

“Intermittent moderate rain-thunderstorms [isolated heavy falls at sometimes] expected in Tharparker, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Thatta, Hyderabad, Tando Allayar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Jamshoro, Sanghar, Nawabshah, Dadu, Noshahro Feroze, Qambar Shahdadkot, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Sukkur districts and Karachi division till July 8,” it said.

The city infrastructure, which was badly hit by the rains on Tuesday, responded much better with enhanced measures by the municipal administration which deployed pumping machines and workforce on major roads for proper drainage of rainwater.

However, in many city localities roads were still submerged by rainwater as district municipal corporations and some cantonment boards concerned took no step to drain out the stagnant water.

Girl dies of electrocution

However, Wednesday’s rains resulted in multiple deadly incidents that claimed three children’s lives.

A three-year-old girl named Bilqees was electrocuted in Quaidabad.

Area SHO Malik Ashraf said she died when she touched an electric pole at Dawood Mills gate in Landhi.

The officer said the relatives told the police that they would lodge an FIR against the KE management after burial of the minor girl.

In North Karachi, a minor boy died while his mother and sister suffered injuries in Sir Syed Town.

Area police officer Chaudhry Naved said the wall of a house built on a hilly area in Sector-7-C in North Karachi collapsed because of intermittent rains.

As a result, three family members came under its debris. They were retrieved and taken to hospital where doctors pronounced three-year-old Ali Mehdi dead on arrival. His mother Razia Asad and sister Sumera suffered minor injuries.

A 13-year-old boy also died in the Khokhrapar area of Malir in another rain-related incident.

Area SHO Humayun Ahmed Khan said that Amaan was asleep at home near Sindh Government Hospital when the roof fell down on him.

He was retrieved from the debris and taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

The officer said intermittent moderate to heavy rains had weakened the structure of the roof.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2022