KARACHI, Aug 26: All tall claims of the city government and other civic agencies were exposed on Monday as the first spell of monsoon dislocated the city’s civic infrastructure and caused immense hardships to motorists and pedestrians. People going to and back from their workplaces were the most affected by the rain, which averaged 27.5 millimetres.

Up to knee-deep water was seen on various important roads and streets of various localities of the megalopolis as the city government and town administrations had failed to clean the stormwater drains. Their senior officials had repeatedly announced that they had launched campaigns to clean the drains and nullahs.

Low-lying areas, such as Lyari, Chakiwara, Ranchhore Lines, Kharadar, Mithadar, Lines Area, were badly affected as most of their streets were flooded with rainwater.

Stormwater drains and the Lyari river, choked with garbage, were seen overflowing their banks. The river was more threatening at places such as Pak Colony’s Rexer Lane and Tin Hatti, where people with houses jutting out over the riverbed got the jitters as the river swelled amid continual rain.

Heavy traffic jams also occurred at various major thoroughfares of the city owing to the accumulation of rainwater. Traffic was seen moving at a snail’s pace on I. I. Chundrigar Road, Korangi Road, Shaheed-i-Millat Expressway, Karimabad, Jehangir Road and also on Sunset Boulevard up to Mai Kolachi. To the utter surprise of motorists, traffic police were not present at all those places where traffic blockade occurred.

Motorists proceeding towards Sharea Pakistan through the Liaquat Flyover were seen driving cautiously near Al-Karam Square and Karimabad as the flyover’s incomplete at-grade road had developed a number of deep potholes.

Almost all major thoroughfares, including the VVIP Sharea Faisal, particularly at Nursery, M. A. Jinnah Road, Sir Shah Suleman Road, a major portion of University Road, Sharah-i-Liaquat, M. R. Kiyani Road and Mohammad Bin Qasim Road (formerly known as Burnes Road), were flooded with rainwater, causing immense hardships to people going to their workplaces.

A large number of commuters were seen stranded at various bus stops as most of the buses, minibuses and coaches went off the roads. This gave a free hand to the drivers of rickshaws and taxis to charge exorbitant fares.

Ankle to knee-deep water had accumulated not only on main thoroughfares but also in various streets of the socalled posh localities.

Reports of filthy gutter water getting mixed with rainwater on several major roads, such as Jehangir Road and streets in Old City area, were also received in newspaper offices.

While most of the city’s stormwater drains are heavily encroached, making their cleaning difficult, a former administrator of the defunct KMC had allowed the owners of Shaheen Complex to cover the adjacent nullah and use it as a parking lot.

The rain also played havoc with the city’s water supply system when power supply went off at almost all vital installations of the KWSB. It brought an end to the pumping of water from its pumping stations, including North-East Karachi (Old), NEK (K-2), Ajmair Nagri pumping station, Civic Centre’s LSR, COD Filter Plant, Sakhi Hassan and Muslimabad.

As there was no electricity at the KWSB’s hydrants, water supply through tankers to the city’s water-deficit areas and all those sprawling townships of former districts West and Central, hooked to the Hub dam source, also came to a standstill.

The water-starved localities of the metropolis which are supplied water through 8,000 tankers from the KWSB’s hydrants situated at Muslimabad, Sakhi Hassan and Civic Centre’s LSR also remained dry on Monday as the tanker operation from these hydrants could not function owing to the non-availability of electricity at these hydrants.

The hard-hit areas included Orangi, Baldia, North Karachi, Surjani Town, Shershah and parts of Site industrial area, whose deficit pockets are supplied water through tankers as the Hub dam source is drying up.

According to the KWSB officials, power supply first went off at its major pumping stations at 1pm and kept on playing hide-and-seek till 6pm, causing a shortfall of over 10 million gallons of water.

Asked about the impact of the power breakdowns, the KWSB officials said that water supply of the entire city would be affected on Tuesday.

Incidents of motorcyclists getting injuries after falling into open manholes and hitting haphazardly constructed speed-breakers were also reported from different parts of the city.

According to an eyewitness, a number of motorcyclists were hurt when their vehicles fell into an open water chamber on the main Mehmood Ghaznavi Road, near Tariq Road.

Motorcyclists were also seen receiving injuries on Mehmood Hussain Road, where a number of illegal and sub-standard speed- breakers have been built by the officials of the nearby Ferozabad police station.