Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced a public holiday for Karachi today (Wednesday) in response to the severe rainfall and widespread disruption plaguing the city.
The chief minister also urged citizens to stay indoors, emphasizing that more rain is expected and the holiday was declared to prevent people from facing further hardship.
According to a statement from the CM House, Shah chaired an emergency meeting to address the situation in Karachi. The meeting was attended by several provincial ministers, including Sharjeel Memon, Nasir Shah, Saeed Ghani, Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar, and Makhdoom Mehboob-uz-Zaman, as well as Chief Secretary Asif Haider Shah, Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, Karachi Commissioner Hassan Naqvi, and Mayor Murtaza Wahab.
During the briefing, officials informed the meeting that the city had received a record 245 millimeters of rain in the last 12 hours, which had paralyzed the traffic system. However, they noted that some major roads had since been partially cleared.
The officials also highlighted that stormwater drains were actively discharging rainwater and that the situation was gradually improving, though significant challenges remained.
The chief minister repeated his call for caution, urging people to avoid non-essential travel and to cooperate with authorities during the emergency.
