• While rain continues to batter city, Met office sees slim chances of downpour over the next two days
• Collapsing walls, roofs and falling trees cause most casualties
• Rescue teams clear as many as 51 fallen trees from roads
• Waterlogged roads disrupt routine life, leave commuters stranded; skies to stay largely clear today

KARACHI: Karachi began limping back to normalcy on Thursday amid intermittent drizzle and light rain, following a night of violent weather that left the city shaken when strong winds and heavy downpours wreaked havoc across city claiming as many as 20 lives, including two women.

Over 70 people were also injured, with many of the victims struck by falling concrete debris.

Many parts of the city continued to receive light rain till Thursday evening. However, the Met office said conditions are expected to improve, forecasting clear skies with no further chances of rain on Friday (today).

Saturday, which would be the first day of Eid, will once again bring cloudy weather with a chance of isolated thunderstorms / rain on the outskirts of the metropolis, it added.

Karachi police chief Azad Khan told Dawn that a total of 20 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the city.

As many as 16 fatalities, including 13 deaths in a single incident of wall collapse in Baldia Town, were reported by late Wednesday night. Four more deaths were reported in the early hours of Thursday morning, increasing the death toll to 20.

The city police chief said three deaths were reported from Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Orangi Town and Malir area in roof collapse incidents, while another man died after lightning struck on him in Shah Latif Town.

The families of the victims and witnesses said that the buildings and structures, including trees, billboards, panaflex advertising hoardings and roadside business facilities including carts and food cabins, succumbed to the intensity of the storm.

While the rain eased into scattered showers by morning, the aftermath of the destruction continued to weigh heavily on residents struggling to recover.

The intensity of the destruction caused by the heavy rains and strong winds can be gauged from the fact that rescue teams cleared as many as 51 fallen trees from across Karachi, according to the Commissioner’s Office.

City authorities said clearance operations were carried out at multiple locations with officials claiming that all major arteries have now been reopened to traffic.

Commissioner of Karachi Syed Hassan Naqvi said an emergency remains in place across the city, with all deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners present in the field to oversee operations. He added that he is personally monitoring the restoration efforts, while the commissioner’s control room has been made fully operational to coordinate the response.

The administration also urged citizens to report any remaining hazards, particularly fallen trees, and seek assistance through the rescue helpline 1299.

Authorities maintained that roads have largely been cleared and the situation is now under control, although recovery work is still ongoing in several parts of the city.

The Wednesday night’s rain coupled with strong winds battered Karachi with official data showing that the intense spell, though lasting barely an hour, caused significant rainfall across the city and triggered widespread destruction.

The brief but intense weather system left a trail of devastation, as collapsing walls, roofs and falling trees caused multiple casualties across the city.

The rescue officials said at least 73 people were injured and taken mainly to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital Karachi and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where an emergency was declared.

According to the JPMC emergency unit in-charge Dr Nausheen Rauf, the injured include children as well as elderly citizens, with several reported to be in critical condition.

Flooded roads

Meanwhile, the intense spell of rain on Wednesday night left large parts of the city waterlogged, disrupting routine life and exposing the fragility of urban infrastructure during extreme weather.

Several major roads were inundated with knee-deep water, significantly slowing down traffic and leaving commuters stranded for hours.

The downpour struck at a time when many families had ventured out for late-night shopping ahead of Eid, only to find themselves stuck in massive traffic jams across key commercial areas.

Vehicles moved at a crawl, while in some places engines stalled due to accumulated rainwater.

The situation proved equally difficult for traders, as the unexpected disruption dealt a blow to businesses during the peak shopping season, with reduced footfall and early market closures reported in multiple localities.

“In response, teams from the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) with other institutions launched coordinated operations through the night to restore normalcy,” said Mayor Murtaza Wahab.

“They managed to drain several inundated stretches and gradually clear key arteries, helping bring traffic flow back under control by Thursday morning. The removal of debris and fallen trees remained a priority, as these obstructions had caused some of the bottlenecks during and after the rain.”

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2026