Storms in Karachi kill over 220 people

KARACHI – Heavy wind and rain wreaked havoc on Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, killing more than 220 people, a provincial minister said yesterday.

In neighbouring India, at least 35 people have died in two days of heavy rains in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, where aid workers backed by military helicopters battled to provide food for 200 000 people displaced by monsoon floods. Pakistani officials earlier said that 43 people had been killed from the rain that began on Saturday afternoon in the Karachi, capital of the southern Sindh province.Health Minister of Sindh Sardar Ahmed said a private welfare organisation, Edhi Trust, had received bodies of another 185 people killed in rain-related accidents.”Now the total number of those killed because of rain is 228,” he told Reuters.”These deaths are caused by electrocution, falling trees, house collapses and road accidents.”Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman for Edhi Trust, said most deaths had taken place in the low-lying areas of the sprawling city.He said that around 120 bodies have been taken away by their families while the rest remained at the mortuaries.Every year thousands of people are killed and hundreds of thousands made homeless across South Asia by months of monsoon rains which are vital for farmers and the wider economy but which leave a trail of destruction in their wake.Karachi has received 17,7 millimetres of rain since Saturday, submerging most low-lying neighbourhoods of the city.Weather officials predicted more rains late on Sunday.Heavy rains followed by a strong storm uprooted trees, signboards and cut electricity wires.Most parts of the city have been without electricity for more than 20 hours.”We are doing our best to restore power supply, but I must say the situation is very bad,” said Syed Sultan Hasan, a spokesman for Karachi’s power utility.Angry residents hurled stones at passing cars and power company vehicles, and burnt tyres to protest the power outage.Nampa-ReutersPakistani officials earlier said that 43 people had been killed from the rain that began on Saturday afternoon in the Karachi, capital of the southern Sindh province.Health Minister of Sindh Sardar Ahmed said a private welfare organisation, Edhi Trust, had received bodies of another 185 people killed in rain-related accidents.”Now the total number of those killed because of rain is 228,” he told Reuters.”These deaths are caused by electrocution, falling trees, house collapses and road accidents.”Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman for Edhi Trust, said most deaths had taken place in the low-lying areas of the sprawling city.He said that around 120 bodies have been taken away by their families while the rest remained at the mortuaries.Every year thousands of people are killed and hundreds of thousands made homeless across South Asia by months of monsoon rains which are vital for farmers and the wider economy but which leave a trail of destruction in their wake.Karachi has received 17,7 millimetres of rain since Saturday, submerging most low-lying neighbourhoods of the city.Weather officials predicted more rains late on Sunday.Heavy rains followed by a strong storm uprooted trees, signboards and cut electricity wires.Most parts of the city have been without electricity for more than 20 hours.”We are doing our best to restore power supply, but I must say the situation is very bad,” said Syed Sultan Hasan, a spokesman for Karachi’s power utility.Angry residents hurled stones at passing cars and power company vehicles, and burnt tyres to protest the power outage.Nampa-Reuters