KARACHI, Sept 8: The city received another spell of widespread showers on Friday that turned weather pleasant after days of scorching heat. The drizzle, which lashed certain areas with considerable intensity briefly, started a little before noon and continued incessantly for about six hours. Intermittent downpour in most parts of the city ran into the night amid forecast by the Met office for more rains on Saturday.

Although the fresh spell of monsoon rain did not create chaotic conditions in the city, it badly affected commercial activity as people found it difficult to visit markets, bazaars, restaurants and food outlets, etc., due to the slippery conditions in streets and lanes. Major thoroughfares had also turned hard to walk on as small pools and puddles had developed all along them.

Movement of vehicular traffic had declined considerably as soon as it started raining as people feared a repeat of Aug 17 happenings when many of those away from their homes had to spend a full night wading through the knee-deep water and facing all rain-related hazards and threats, besides fatigues.

Considering the heavily overcast sky and reports of devastating rains in the interior Sindh, as well as the non-stop drizzle, most people stayed indoors after Friday prayers. Most shopping areas, including Saddar, Empress Market, Bohri Bazaar, Burnes Road, Tariq Road, Lea Market, Jodia Bazaar, Juna Market, Haidri and Liaquatabad wore a deserted look as there were almost no buyers although most of the shops appeared open.

Public transport and goods carriers moved very cautiously to avoid a plunge into the trenches developed as a result of digging of a large number of roads across the city. In most cases, proper filling of the trenches and potholes has not been carried out while carpeting and patch work at many places are also due.

The rain also disturbed routine life to some extent as those who had to proceed to their workplace after Juma prayers could not do so and most employees and employers who had already reached their workplace had to face great hardship in getting back home due to the thin presence of public transport means. At many bus stops, crowds of office workers were seen waiting for buses, mini-buses and coaches but most of their required vehicles appeared carrying passengers beyond their capacity.

The rain, which hit Karachi at around 11am, led to a drop in temperature to 29 degree Celsius from Thursday’s 34.8 degree Celsius.

According to the Met office, the city received an average 7.7 mm rainfall till 8pm on Friday. “University Road area received the maximum, 9.6mm, rain followed by Karachi Airport (9mm), Model Observatory (9mm), Faisal Base (8mm), North Karachi (8mm) and Masroor Base (4mm),” it added.

Local chief weatherman, Abdul Hameed, told Dawnthat light rains and drizzles were caused due to a monsoon weather system which had entered in the region. “More light to moderate rains are expected during the next 24 hours due to the movement of the monsoon depression which lay over Central India a couple of days back,” he added.

The weatherman said the monsoon season would be ending by the end of the current month and it could rain anytime in the city during this period. However, he said the present low pressure was moving towards Balochistan.

A large number of people, who braved a hot sunny day on Thursday, visited the city beaches and other recreational places as the light rains turned weather pleasant.

While the people were already in a festive mood due to the religious occasion of Shab-i-Baraat, the pleasant change in the weather was greeted as a blessing of Almighty Allah.

However, rainwater accumulated on major arteries and roads, such as I. I. Chundrigar Road, M. A. Jinnah Road, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Sharea Faisal, Shahrah-i-Pakistan and Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan Road, causing hardship to pedestrians and commuters. The small ponds and puddles of rainwater scattered all along the thoroughfares caused problems especially to bikers and pedestrians who as the passing cars and other big vehicles splattered their clothes with dirty water. “I was going to offer Juma prayers when a speeding car splashed filthy water at me and I had to return home for a change-out,” Mohammed Umer, a resident of Nazimabad said.

Passers-by hurling expletives at the speeding vehicles was a common scene of the day in many parts of the city. “Why these motorists are so ignorant of the pedestrians? Don’t they know driving with that much speed through a pond or puddle would splatter our clothes with filthy water?” a man on a pavement said.

Though it did not rain much, it was enough to cause severe traffic jams in many parts of the city as several roads and streets are still in a dilapidated condition due the first two heavy spells of the monsoon downpour. Traffic moved very slow on the devastated roads and streets.