Karachi, Jul 26 (PTI) Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed nearly 20 people in Pakistan, including at least a dozen in the country’s commercial hub Karachi, officials said on Tuesday.
Heavy rainfall has been going on in Pakistan since Sunday night. Authorities are scrambling to mitigate the impacts of the heavy monsoon rains, which have inundated cities and prompted flash floods across the country.
A total of 19 deaths have been reported in the country including 12 in Karachi and four in the worst-hit Balochistan province, senior civic officials said.
They said the fresh spell of rains had washed away the Hub bridge and three other bridges in Balochistan, leaving many travellers stranded in the rain.
In Karachi, an official of the Edhi welfare trust said at least six people had been electrocuted while six others drowned in open manholes and flooded rivers in low-lying areas.
Karachi and other parts of the southern Sindh province have seen several protests from people who are facing power outages, inundation of residential areas and drains due to the rains.
The Sindh government declared a public holiday on Monday after it rained again a day earlier.
In earlier spells of the monsoon rains, at least 185 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the country with Balochistan being the worst affected province where around 85 casualties were reported.
The rain, which started early on Sunday, continued to fall intermittently by Tuesday and Karachi city has received up to 215-millimetre of rainfall.
The Met department has predicted more rains in the days to come.
An official at the Met department said there will be more moderate to heavy rains in Karachi and lower Sindh areas till late Wednesday.