Heavy monsoon rainfall has caused flooding and landslides in Sindh Province, Pakistan, including the provincial capital, Karachi.
According the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) in a report of 25 August, heavy rainfall and ensuing flooding affected the districts of Mirpur Khas, Tharparkar, Karachi, Badin, Thatta, Hyderabad, Chhor and Tando Jam from 24 August 2020.
Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said other areas were also affected. The authority has has dispatched relief items to affected areas of Dadu, Qambar Shahdadkot, Tharparkar and Umerkot districts.
NDMA said many people were evacuated from vulnerable areas and shifted to safer places. Local media report around 300 were evacuated in Dadu and over 1,000 in Karachi district. Teams from the military and local district administrations have been deployed with pumping equipment to help clear flooded areas.
Local media reported 4 people, including 3 children, lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Karachi. A landslide triggered by the heavy rainfall was reported in Gulastan-e-Johar, Karachi district, on 25 August, damaging several vehicles.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Department reported heavy rain in parts of the province from 22 August, with Surjani Town recording 186 mm of rain in 24 hours. Further heavy rain has fallen since then, in particular in 24 hours to 25 August, when Mithi recorded 135 mm and Mirpur Khas 162 mm. In the following 24 hours period, Dau recorded 142 mm of rain.
The city of Karachi and Sindh province have been plagued by rain- and flood-related incidents over recent weeks, including in early July, late July and again in mid August.
NDMA reports that 90 people have now died in this year’s monsoon (since June this year), including 31 in Sindh, 23 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 15 in Balochistan, 8 in Punjab, 3 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and 10 in Gilgit-Baltistan. At least 40 people have been injured.
Social Media
If this image from Karachi doesn’t shake you to your core, there’s something very very wrong with you. pic.twitter.com/9BIWf4IHyx
— Ell_Enn (@ell_enn) August 25, 2020
Nursery Furniture Market #karachi #KarachiRains #KarachiSinks pic.twitter.com/j9BJe2sJRy
— Usama Qureshi (@UsamaQureshy) August 25, 2020