Week 22 starts with disaster as Tassy returns home from last week's trip

 Edited BY

G P Kennedy

Tassy - Karachi, Pakistan

 Hello everyone. As excited as I was last week with my short escape to Dubai, this week I’m as despondent. The journey back from Dubai was uneventful in the sense that I knew what to expect with flight protocol and travel. A very excited and happy Mario, my Shih Tzu who we had left behind, greeted me.

 

 The feeling of elation from the week’s trip was very much there for my first day back. The weather was not too hot and it was cloudy so that felt pleasant. This changed from the next day. The wind picked up and my bamboo fence fell over. Along with the fence I lost my beautiful vegetable bearing creepers and my bright bougainvillea that was uprooted.
 

The wind takes down part of the garden

What followed in the next five days was the worst thunderstorm the country has seen in a 100 years!  Karachi in the best of times cannot handle rain. As mentioned a couple of months ago when we had heavy rainfall, our drive way was like a swimming pool. This time, the monsoon spell literally suspended life in most of the city.
 

Floods bring daily life to a halt

In my house several leaks in the ceiling caused water to drip like a half open tap. We were fortunate there was no other damage, but for many others living in low-lying areas, water inundated their homes. The rain became steadily worse. Roads around the city were flooded and several people lost their lives as they fell prey to electrocution from fallen electricity poles in the water. Others drowned in the large pools of water that collected around the city, or by stepping into open drains.

 Karachi is inherently a desert so every year when we get a couple of days of rainfall most people tend to get excited. Because of global warming however, rainfall over the last few years has caused an enormous amount of havoc because of flooding, and poor drainage and archaic sewage systems. The week that went by was probably the worst its ever been in the history of Karachi. In 12 hours the city received 234 mm of rain. Nearby dams and the Malir River, which runs through the city, also overflowed. Boats capsized and people drowned.

Karachi overwhelmed by the monsoon

 To make things worse several localities had no electricity for 4 to 5 days. We lost electricity for over 36 hours. We have a 30 kV generator at home, which can run the whole house, but fuel for the generator ran out. As soon as it starts to rain, diesel supply around the city disappears, and this time too there was a run at fuel stations as people including us queued to get diesel for our respective home generators. One attempt to get diesel made our car fall into a ditch. There was mayhem.

Flood waters interrupted wreak havoc

 And that was not all. Telecom companies switched off their mobile network. With no 4G, and no Wi-Fi as there was no electricity, communication came to a complete standstill. We were unable to even be in touch with my elderly mother in law who lives alone in her house.

 I tried hard not to feel miserable but it was not easy. My mind kept going back to what a great time I was having just a week earlier being in a civilized first world country. I kept bringing my thoughts back to instilling a feeling of gratitude to have a roof on my head and a beautiful home where there was fortunately little damage. Complaining about no communication and no electricity seems like a pathetic thing to do when most of the city’s residents were suffering from extreme damage to their homes and belongings.

2020 keeps piling on the agony

 Living in a country like Pakistan I now understand why COVID-19 doesn’t rattle people. For the majority they have too much to worry about just to secure a roof over their heads, having food to eat, and clean water to drink. So their apathy towards Corona is not unjustified.

 The rain stopped after a couple of days but the electricity remains interrupted. Our phone network has still not been restored after 5 days. Even though I have been cooped up at home, my classes have had to be cancelled as a lot of my students have no Wi-Fi networks for my virtual classes, nor can they physically come for in person classes because of water logged roads. 

 More rain is expected next week. We are well stocked with provisions at the moment and are bracing ourselves for what may come.  I am grateful though that at least my children are happy in North America, my parents are safe at my sister’s house in London, and whatever it is… life is fine. Not perfect but fine.