KARACHI, Aug 13: The city and its suburbs received moderate to heavy rain on Sunday afternoon in a fresh spell of the current monsoon. Intermittent rains in different parts of the city continued till late in the night.

The showers disrupted life in the city as almost all roads and streets remained under water for hours, badly affecting commercial activities. Roadside eating houses and shops were almost without customers during the rainfall and hours afterwards. Women and the elderly were confined to their homes amid fear of any mishap. Functioning of clinical emergency services was also affected as drivers of ambulances found it very difficult to avoid inundated roads to hospitals.

The drainage system that had collapsed during the previous spells stopped functioning properly as a result of which rainwater accumulated in low-lying areas. Portions of the Sharea Faisal, University Road, M. A. Jinnah Road, Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Clifton Road and various other main thoroughfares were submerged and could not be cleared of stagnant water.

According to the Met office, the lower and eastern parts of Sindh, including Karachi, are in the grip of monsoon currents and have been receiving scattered showers.

It said that North Karachi received 27.2mm rainfall, PAF Masroor 16mm, University Road 11mm, and Faisal Base 15mm till 5pm on Sunday while intermittent showers continued into the night.

The vehicular traffic, which was already thin due to the weekly holiday, was off the road while it rained. However, public and private transport vehicles started reappearing on roads, though in a small number, as rain lost its intensity gradually. People were seen traveling in crowded buses, minibuses and coaches as the number of public transport vehicle was remarkably thin.

Many small vehicles, motorcycles, cars, taxis, rickshaws, etc., broke down while wading through the accumulated water in different areas.

Meanwhile, the Met office has forecast cloudy weather with possibility of rain and thunderstorm in the city on Monday. More rains with thundershowers at a few places are expected in lower Sindh areas, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Thatta and Thar desert during the next 36 hours while isolated rains and thunderstorm are also likely to hit upper Sindh and eastern Balochistan.

The maximum temperature in the city on Sunday was recorded at 29.8 Celsius and the minimum at 27.5 degrees Celsius with humidity being at around 85 per cent.