HYDERABAD, Aug 31 Rains lashed various parts of Sindh on Sunday night and Monday morning, badly affecting electricity supply and paralysing life.

The met office said Hyderabad had received 62 millimetres of rain by Monday evening.

Moderate to heavy showers brought welcome relief to people of Hyderabad from a debilitating heat wave.

The first spell of rain began around 9pm on Sunday night and it rained intermittently past midnight.

Power supply was an immediate casualty and many areas of the city suffered outages lasting hours together.

The skies held together till noon on Monday, but a downpour lashed Hyderabad and nearby towns in the afternoon.

Private vehicles went off roads and most schools suspended their second shifts as major arteries became impassable.

The Met office has forecast rains for the next three days.

Fifteen grid stations in Sindh and 80 feeders were badly affected. Seven of the 15 grid stations are in Hyderabad, three in Sanghar, one each in Kadhan, Thana Bula Khan, Tando Mohammad Khan, Matli and Tando Ghulam Ali.

Power supply was, however, restored to most regions by nightfall after the Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (Hesco) energised four feeders. Gusty winds knocked down three towers of 66 KV in Kadhan and a 132 KV tower in Thana Bula Khan.

Although rainwater had flooded most roads in Latifabad and Qasimabad,

The situation started improving in the evening.

District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil visited different parts of Hyderabad on Monday and inspected a number of pumping stations.

Rains dampened Eid shopping as most people stayed indoors.

“Customers have disappeared all of a sudden and it will take time for the market to regain the momentum it had seen since the advent of Ramazan,” Khurram, who runs a footwear shop, said.

Cultivators fear that the rains would damage vegetables like onion and tomato.

Mehmood Nawaz Shah, general secretary of the Sindh Abadgar Board, however, said rains would fill up the Sukkur barrage. “Rains will be beneficial for paddy and sugarcane too,” he added.

MIRPURKHAS Rain with thunderstorm hit Mirpurkhas and other towns of the district. Low-lying areas of the city were inundated while rainwater caused puddles on main streets of the town.

Trees and signboards were uprooted in Mirwah Gorchani, Digri, Jhuddo and Naukot.

SANGHAR Rain lashed the entire district. It started raining late on Sunday and continued intermittently till 5am on Monday. As usual, power supply went off and was restored after about eight hours.

Cotton picking activities were halted due to rain. At some places, the cotton crop was damaged.