Jun 24, 9:24 AM EDT
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Heavy Rains Kill 250 in Pakistan's South*

By ZARAR KHAN
Associated Press Writer

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- Collapsed houses and severed electrical cables
killed at least 250 people after heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed
Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, an official said Sunday.

Sardar Ahmed, minister of health for Sindh province, said 205 more
bodies were counted in the city morgue after Saturday's storm. Karachi's
mayor initial said 43 people were killed.

The country's economic hub, a dynamic but chaotic city with fragile
infrastructure, frequently seethes with tension and street protests,
some sparked by massive power outages. The atmosphere has been
particularly tense since May 12, when political unrest left more than 40
people dead.

Anwar Kazmi, a senior official at the Edhi Foundation, which runs the
morgue, said many of the victims came from a cluster of villages with
mud houses and other flimsy structures on Karachi's eastern outskirts.

Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing homes but snapped power
lines electrocuted at least 20 people people, Ahmed said.

Electricity was still disrupted in some neighborhoods Sunday. Residents
angry after a night without power to run fans or air conditioners in the
sweltering summer heat staged street protests, Karachi Mayor Mustafa
Kamal said.

Work on restoring the electricity supply had started and municipal
workers were clearing storm-toppled trees, billboards and other debris
from streets in the city on the Arabian Sea coast, he said.

A relief camp was set up to provide food, medicine and shelter to people
whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the eastern outskirts, said
Murtaza Baluch, mayor of the neighborhood of mainly farm and factory
workers.

Dozens of people died in storms in Karachi last year and choked drains
left many streets flooded with rain water, but Kamal said new drains
were built, preventing massive flooding this year.