MIRPURKHAS: Widespread rains preceded by a dust storm hit Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar and Sanghar districts breaking a long spell of heatwave and turning the weather pleasant on Tuesday evening.

Strong winds brought down roadside hoardings, billboards installed atop many buildings and roofs of non-concrete houses besides uprooting trees in many cities and towns of the three districts. However, no casualties were reported till late in the night.

Mirpurkhas city and most areas of the district received several light to moderate spells of rains following a dust storm at around 9pm. It was still raining when last report came in at around midnight.

Nearly all thoroughfares of the city submerged and power supply to the entire city went off.

A dust storm followed by heavy to moderate spells of rain hit Tharparkar, Umerkot and Badin districts and parts of Sangar district at around 9pm. High-velocity winds swept through the entire region causing widespread damage to thatched houses in several hundred villages.

People of the drought-hit region rejoiced at the downpour though most areas of the four districts as well as Shahpur Chakar and Khipro tehsils of Sanghar district were flooded with rainwater.

The region’s population heaved a sigh of relief as the rains broke the prolonged heatwave with the temperatures touching 50 degrees Celsius over the past few weeks in some areas.

Heavy to light spells of rain were reported from Nagarparkar, Kaloi, Islamkot, Diplo, Mithi, Kunri, Badin, Shahpur Chakar, Khipro, Mirpurkhas, Jhuddo, Tando Bago, Dei, Pangrio, Talhar, Khoski, Seerani and many other towns which continued into the night.

Reports from the area suggested that the strong winds and rains played havoc with the electricity network leaving most of the areas without power.

Published in Dawn, July 22th, 2015

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