Each year in Kausar Niazi Colony, a shanty town in the port city of Karachi, monsoon rains flood homes, damaging furniture, televisions, and other valuables.
This year, the monsoon rains were particularly heavy. Water poured into houses. Floods drowned neighborhoods, and at least one person drowned.
Murtaza Hussain, who works in a textile factory, said, “It took us nearly two days to clean the water and get the house back to normal. There was no help from the government. Every year, the government says there will be no flooding, but the problem is getting worse.”
The monsoon season, which lasts from June through August, is an annual rain season where there is heavy rainfall. The average rainfall is five feet, which is about 37 gallons.
The monsoon rains have killed at least 282 people over the past five weeks as of last Thursday, many of them women and children. The flood has also damaged highways, bridges, and around 5,600 homes.
There are already signs the rain will worsen in the coming years. The rains this year have been 87 percent heavier than the average downpour.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s minister for climate change, said this month, “This is a national disaster.”
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, had a record rainfall just two years ago. This month’s rains broke records again, raising questions about how the country’s economic hub might survive if the trend continues.
The floods have highlighted the lack of government infrastructure to deal with the flooding.
“The water waves gushed into the home whenever a vehicle passes by our house through the street. The government has learned no lessons from the past disasters,” Fazal Ali, an accountant, said. Mr. Ali was forced to leave his house this month and move to a hotel after flood water broke his house’s main gate and flooded his home.
The floods will worsen if the government doesn’t assist residents during the monsoon season. Citizens are looking for help from the government and will continue to fight for their assistance.
This year, the monsoon rains were particularly heavy. Water poured into houses. Floods drowned neighborhoods, and at least one person drowned.
Murtaza Hussain, who works in a textile factory, said, “It took us nearly two days to clean the water and get the house back to normal. There was no help from the government. Every year, the government says there will be no flooding, but the problem is getting worse.”
The monsoon season, which lasts from June through August, is an annual rain season where there is heavy rainfall. The average rainfall is five feet, which is about 37 gallons.
The monsoon rains have killed at least 282 people over the past five weeks as of last Thursday, many of them women and children. The flood has also damaged highways, bridges, and around 5,600 homes.
There are already signs the rain will worsen in the coming years. The rains this year have been 87 percent heavier than the average downpour.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s minister for climate change, said this month, “This is a national disaster.”
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, had a record rainfall just two years ago. This month’s rains broke records again, raising questions about how the country’s economic hub might survive if the trend continues.
The floods have highlighted the lack of government infrastructure to deal with the flooding.
“The water waves gushed into the home whenever a vehicle passes by our house through the street. The government has learned no lessons from the past disasters,” Fazal Ali, an accountant, said. Mr. Ali was forced to leave his house this month and move to a hotel after flood water broke his house’s main gate and flooded his home.
The floods will worsen if the government doesn’t assist residents during the monsoon season. Citizens are looking for help from the government and will continue to fight for their assistance.
