Pakistan: 8 more die in rain-related incidents in Balochistan, Sindh

Heavy rains continued to cause great damage in several areas of Pakistan's Sindh and Balochistan province, as eight more people lost their lives in rain-related accidents.

In Sindh's Khairpur district, the tragedy befell a family as the roof collapsed during heavy rain, leaving a man and his two minor sons dead while his wife and two daughters suffered critical injuries, Dawn reported.

In Karachi, five people died as several areas of the city remained inundated in sewage-laced rainwater for a third consecutive day.

Moreover, heavy rains caused flooding in Mirpurkhas, Larkana, Dadu, Qambar-Shahdadkot and other adjoining towns.

However, citizens looking for a respite from torrential rain to return to their normal lives will have to wait for one more day as the Met Office has said that the fresh spell of rain could stay till Wednesday (today) and would begin to weaken from Thursday.

A brief statement by the Met office said that Karachi and other parts of Sindh, were likely to receive widespread rain, windstorm or thunderstorm with scattered heavy or very heavy rainfall till July 27, reported Dawn.

Meanwhile, hour-long power outages and inundation of residential areas due to incessant rain and subsequent accumulation of water protests against administration officials also erupted in several areas of Sindh which added to the plight of the people.

The downpours, which started early on Sunday continued to come down till 10 am with frequent breaks and by the end of the first half of the day the city had received up to 204-millimetre rain.

"The system is very much there. The latest data analysis suggests that the rain will continue for another two days. We may see moderate to heavy rains in Karachi and lower Sindh areas till late July 27," said Sardar Sarfraz of the Met Office.

Due to the heavy downpour, Monday had already been declared a holiday for the citizens of Karachi and Hyderabad.

Though several key roads were cleared by the administration after hours-long efforts in the cities, life remained miserable in several low-lying areas, residential neighbourhoods, housing societies and commercial centres which remained flooded.

According to Dawn, rain-related incidents have wreaked havoc in several parts of Pakistan as a 20-year-old man was reported dead in village Baqar Nizamani of Tando Mohammad Khan district in Hyderabad recently whereas in Dadu and Khairpur Mirs, two persons were killed and 10 others were injured.

Moreover, in the coastal talukas of Ghorabari and Mirpur Sakro, hundreds of acres of agricultural land were submerged after a riverine stream started overflowing due to rain.

Due to continuing downpours, rainwater could not be drained out in Jamshoro, Kotri, Sann and Bhan Syedabad towns where low-lying areas were inundated whereas various parts of Shaheed Benazirabad district, including Nawabshah, Daur, Daulatpur, Bandhi, Sakrand and Kazi Ahmed towns, received heavy downpours on Monday.

'The third spell of monsoon rains has been giving Balochistan tough times, washing away at least two bridges on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway - Landa Dora near Bela and Danda area of Uthal, and resulting in the death of four people in Khuzdar and Lasbela.