Sindh Provencal Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director General DG Salman Shah warned the concerned departments, Karachi Commissioner, KMC, KDA, and other organizations to prepare and ensure emergency plans as the port city is expected to witness more than 100 percent of monsoon rains in July to August.

A meeting of concerned institutions given the monsoon under the chairmanship of Commissioner Karachi in which PDMA DG Salman Shah warned the concerned departments.

“100% more rains are expected from July to August this year,” Salman Shah said.

“There are a total of 198 slope areas in Karachi out of which 29 are sensitive,” PDMA said.

Karachi Commissioner instructed the agencies to make contingency plans given the heavy rains in the port city. “Prepare emergency plans for KMC, KDA, TMSE, and others,” the Karachi Commissioner said.

Karachi Commissioner said if concerned institutions would not be prepared then the city might suffer a huge loss.

Karachi Monsoon 2020

The city of Karachi received record-breaking rainfall between 24th – and 27th of August where a whopping 230 mm of rainfall on a single day of August 27 was recorded.

National Disaster Management Authority reported 184 deaths in rain-related incidents across the country where 80 deaths were reported in Sindh and 47 fatalities were reported in Karachi alone.

Cause of deaths during monsoon rains in Karachi

These deaths were caused by either drowning, electrocution, or collapsing roofs. In total Karachi received 604-mm of rainfall in the month of August 2020, making this August the rainiest August in 89 years.

Karachi witnesses monsoon rains normally in June to September. The annual average rainfall for Karachi is 174.6 millimeters or 6.87 inches (1981-2010). The highest annual rainfall of 713 millimeters was recorded in 1967xii. The highest rainfall in a single day was recorded on 27th of August, 2020 where 230 mm of rain was recorded in the city. The city recorded an increase in rainfall in 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2019.

Why Karachi Floods

As per the Preliminary survey report after monsoon rains in Karachi, as noted from the immense flooding of the city occurring last month and the damage it caused, confirmed in results of this survey, Karachi faces a significant threat of flooding in its entirety due to changing climate patterns.

The apparent reason, which is believed for Karachi’s flooding, is the illegal encroachment of katchi abadis built on nullahs but the issue goes deeper than this.

Karachi has gone through infrastructure neglect for decades and now is bearing the consequences.