Poor rain emergency plan of Karachi city govt exposed

Light showers in the port city, Karachi paralyzed routine and commercial activities. The submerging roads and streets, exposed the ineffectiveness of the city governments rain emergency plan. The city government was unable to come up to expectations and the steps it had taken to avert the accumulation of water on the roads and streets proved futile. Despite the cleaning and de-silting of storm-water drains in massive campaign, the city government failed to solve the drainage problem in the metropolis during the rain. The downpour is expected to continue today.Heavy rains lashed several areas including Shahrah-e-Faisal, airport, Malir, Saddar, MA Jinnah Road, Gurumandar, Nazimabad, New Karachi, Federal B Area and Gulshan-e-Iqbal.According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, the city received around 85 mm rainfall. The break-up, 65 mm rain was recorded at the airport, 83 mm in Landhi and 58 mm and 85 mm in North Karachi.Vehicular traffic remained thin in most parts of the city as people preferred remaining indoors, but gridlocks were still seen in the downtown areas of the city.