Islamabad, Aug 20 At least 11 people were killed and 10 were injured in Pakistan's Karachi as heavy downpours flooded major roads, submerged underpasses, and paralysed daily life in the country, according to local media reports.
According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Inam Haider Malik, the torrential rainfall is likely to continue until Saturday, and another spell is to start by the end of the month.
In Karachi, eleven people lost their lives in rain-triggered incidents, including electrocution and the collapse of concrete structures, reports leading Pakistani media outlet, Dunya News.
As the city's outdated sewerage and drainage system collapsed in the deluge, daily commuters were left stranded in rising floodwaters during peak hours, while power outages plunged multiple neighbourhoods into darkness, reports leading Pakistani daily, The Express Tribune.
Meanwhile, in Sindh, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah declared a public holiday, stating that all provincial government, semi-government, autonomous, and private institutions, including schools, would remain closed across the province on Wednesday.
Additionally, heavy downpours were recorded in 15 districts of Balochistan, where the main highway linking the province to Sindh has been closed to heavy vehicles, said provincial disaster official Muhammad Younis.
He added that 40 to 50 houses have been damaged across two districts in rain-related incidents.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted heavy rains in Sindh and parts of Balochistan in the coming days, cautioning about the threat of urban flooding, flash floods, and infrastructural damage.
As the monsoon continues to wreak havoc across the nation, Pakistan's Awami Tehreek party leaders slammed the federal and provincial governments for failing to safeguard citizens amid the heavy rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan, where more than 300 people have been killed.
The leaders accused the NDMA of "swallowing trillions of rupees in the name of natural disasters" but made minimal efforts to rescue or rehabilitate the victims.
"NDMA has limited itself to merely counting the dead instead of providing real assistance," read the statement.
They further stated that both the Sindh government, the PDMA and the NDMA have failed to make adequate preparations.
"If the governments had prioritised saving lives over making money out of disasters, people would have been spared such enormous human and financial losses," the leaders said.
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