Published: 06:56 PM, 03 October 2025 Last Update: 07:24 PM, 03 October 2025
Pakistan’s urban flood crisis: A legacy of neglect and mismanagement
Collected Image
The images of Pakistan’s largest cities drowning in knee-deep water during monsoon season are no longer shocking—they have become routine. For residents of Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Kasur, and countless other urban centres, the monsoon is not a season of relief but one of dread.
Streets turn into rivers, homes are inundated, transport collapses, and public life grinds to a halt. The causes of this recurring disaster are not a mystery. Experts have been warning for decades: Pakistan’s cities suffer from a chronic lack of urban planning, particularly in the management of rainwater and natural drainage flows. A session organised on September 16 by the Urban Resource Centre (URC) laid bare these longstanding failures.
Featuring architect and town planner Arif Hasan and NED University Professor Noman Ahmed, the discussion underscored how the accelerating effects of climate change are now exposing the fatal flaws in Pakistan’s urban planning—or lack thereof. Both speakers described, in painful detail, how unchecked construction, blocked waterways, and careless infrastructure projects have turned ordinary rainfall into urban catastrophe.
Concrete first, planning later
In Pakistan, the guiding principle of development appears to be “build wherever possible, and worry about consequences later.” Roads, housing schemes, and commercial projects sprout on any available land, with scant attention to how rainwater will flow.
Cheap plots lying in natural waterways are quickly snapped up for construction, then sold at handsome profits. Drainage systems, if considered at all, are rudimentary and often non-functional. The outcome is predictable: natural channels are obstructed, storm drains are blocked, and rainwater pools into stagnant lakes across low-lying areas.
Professor Ahmed highlighted the absurdity of the situation during his talk. He described how rainwater drains remain bone dry even as surrounding neighbourhoods are submerged. The reason is simple: roads and development projects have left no outlet for water to escape. “New development projects have also blocked all drainage, as no one thinks about such things while planning construction,” Ahmed remarked. Even the city’s emergency response mechanisms are rendered useless in such circumstances. Ahmed cited the August 19 downpour, when vehicles deployed to pump out water from Karachi’s main artery, Sharea Faisal, themselves stalled as floodwater seeped into their engines.
Nature overridden by greed
Arif Hasan’s observations reinforced the same bleak picture. He explained how Pakistan’s natural water flows, particularly in cities like Karachi, have been obstructed by unplanned settlements. LWater from the north and hilly regions should ideally drain southward into the sea. Instead, residential townships and commercial developments have sprouted directly on these natural routes, with predictable consequences.
Hasan pointed to Saadi Town and its surrounding projects as prime examples of how construction has bulldozed over nature’s logic. “You don’t meddle with nature like that,” Hasan said. His words echo a basic principle of urban planning that has been repeatedly ignored in Pakistan: settlements must never block the natural flow of water. But in Pakistan’s cities, that is precisely what has been done, often with the full complicity of municipal authorities and developers seeking profits.
A city choking on its own wastewater
Hasan also revisited the URC’s 2020 survey of Karachi’s drainage system, which revealed an appalling state of neglect. Of the 34 smaller drains feeding into the Mahmoodabad drain, 30 were blocked. Even the main drain itself had only four functioning outlets out of 18, leaving the rest clogged and sealed. With such blockages, there is little chance for water to escape into the rivers or the sea.
The problem is compounded by the sheer scale of urban density. Rainwater from the rooftops of around 2.7 million buildings in Karachi flows directly onto streets, with no mechanism to channel it toward the Lyari or Malir rivers. The result is chaos: overflowing nullahs, submerged roads, and homeless families. Even controversial demolitions of settlements along Gujjar, Orangi, and Mahmoodabad nullahs—measures that displaced thousands—failed to address the flooding problem.
Climate change as a force multiplier
If urban negligence has laid the foundation for Pakistan’s flooding crisis, climate change is now acting as a force multiplier. As Professor Ahmed pointed out, rainfall patterns have shifted significantly. The average rainfall recorded this year in cities such as Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot exceeded historical norms. Low-lying neighbourhoods are inundated almost instantly when it rains, leaving citizens scrambling to protect their belongings.
The combination of heavier rainfall and blocked drainage creates a dangerous cycle. With no channels to absorb or redirect water, even moderate downpours overwhelm urban infrastructure. Overflowing rivers such as the Sutlej and Ravi spill into nearby settlements, causing further damage. Climate unpredictability only deepens the vulnerability of cities already crippled by poor planning.
The human cost of neglect
Behind every image of submerged cars and waterlogged streets lies the human cost of this systemic negligence. Daily wage earners are unable to work, children cannot attend schools, and families lose possessions accumulated over the years. Public health crises follow swiftly, as stagnant water becomes a breeding ground for disease. For millions, the monsoon is not just an inconvenience—it is a season of trauma.
The psychological toll is equally severe. Urban residents find themselves living in constant fear of rain, a natural event that should bring relief but instead heralds disaster. Citizens are forced to improvise survival strategies—raising furniture, sealing doors, or simply fleeing their homes—while officials offer little more than hollow assurances.
The pattern of denial
What makes Pakistan’s flooding crisis most tragic is that it is neither new nor unforeseen. Urban planners, environmentalists, and civil society organisations have long raised alarms about blocked drains, encroached waterways, and reckless construction. Yet year after year, authorities respond with short-term fixes and cosmetic clean-up operations rather than addressing the structural causes of flooding.
Professor Ahmed’s presentation underscored this denial. He noted that rainwater should naturally flow into rivers or the sea through stormwater drains. Yet in city after city, this most basic of urban systems is absent, ignored, or deliberately obstructed. The result is visible to all: flooded streets, displaced communities, and mounting economic losses.
A crisis of governance
At its core, Pakistan’s urban flood crisis is not just an environmental or infrastructural issue—it is a governance failure. The absence of foresight, accountability, and respect for natural systems has created cities that collapse at the first sign of rain.
The situation reflects a broader pattern in Pakistan’s governance culture: reactive firefighting instead of proactive planning, ad-hoc measures instead of institutional reform. Every monsoon season, political leaders rush to inspect flooded areas, issue statements of concern, and promise “comprehensive strategies” that never materialise.
In the meantime, developers continue to build over natural waterways, drainage systems remain clogged, and citizens brace themselves for yet another cycle of devastation. (By, Suraiya Akter & views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author.)
Streets turn into rivers, homes are inundated, transport collapses, and public life grinds to a halt. The causes of this recurring disaster are not a mystery. Experts have been warning for decades: Pakistan’s cities suffer from a chronic lack of urban planning, particularly in the management of rainwater and natural drainage flows. A session organised on September 16 by the Urban Resource Centre (URC) laid bare these longstanding failures.
Featuring architect and town planner Arif Hasan and NED University Professor Noman Ahmed, the discussion underscored how the accelerating effects of climate change are now exposing the fatal flaws in Pakistan’s urban planning—or lack thereof. Both speakers described, in painful detail, how unchecked construction, blocked waterways, and careless infrastructure projects have turned ordinary rainfall into urban catastrophe.
Concrete first, planning later
In Pakistan, the guiding principle of development appears to be “build wherever possible, and worry about consequences later.” Roads, housing schemes, and commercial projects sprout on any available land, with scant attention to how rainwater will flow.
Cheap plots lying in natural waterways are quickly snapped up for construction, then sold at handsome profits. Drainage systems, if considered at all, are rudimentary and often non-functional. The outcome is predictable: natural channels are obstructed, storm drains are blocked, and rainwater pools into stagnant lakes across low-lying areas.
Professor Ahmed highlighted the absurdity of the situation during his talk. He described how rainwater drains remain bone dry even as surrounding neighbourhoods are submerged. The reason is simple: roads and development projects have left no outlet for water to escape. “New development projects have also blocked all drainage, as no one thinks about such things while planning construction,” Ahmed remarked. Even the city’s emergency response mechanisms are rendered useless in such circumstances. Ahmed cited the August 19 downpour, when vehicles deployed to pump out water from Karachi’s main artery, Sharea Faisal, themselves stalled as floodwater seeped into their engines.
Nature overridden by greed
Arif Hasan’s observations reinforced the same bleak picture. He explained how Pakistan’s natural water flows, particularly in cities like Karachi, have been obstructed by unplanned settlements. LWater from the north and hilly regions should ideally drain southward into the sea. Instead, residential townships and commercial developments have sprouted directly on these natural routes, with predictable consequences.
Hasan pointed to Saadi Town and its surrounding projects as prime examples of how construction has bulldozed over nature’s logic. “You don’t meddle with nature like that,” Hasan said. His words echo a basic principle of urban planning that has been repeatedly ignored in Pakistan: settlements must never block the natural flow of water. But in Pakistan’s cities, that is precisely what has been done, often with the full complicity of municipal authorities and developers seeking profits.
A city choking on its own wastewater
Hasan also revisited the URC’s 2020 survey of Karachi’s drainage system, which revealed an appalling state of neglect. Of the 34 smaller drains feeding into the Mahmoodabad drain, 30 were blocked. Even the main drain itself had only four functioning outlets out of 18, leaving the rest clogged and sealed. With such blockages, there is little chance for water to escape into the rivers or the sea.
The problem is compounded by the sheer scale of urban density. Rainwater from the rooftops of around 2.7 million buildings in Karachi flows directly onto streets, with no mechanism to channel it toward the Lyari or Malir rivers. The result is chaos: overflowing nullahs, submerged roads, and homeless families. Even controversial demolitions of settlements along Gujjar, Orangi, and Mahmoodabad nullahs—measures that displaced thousands—failed to address the flooding problem.
Climate change as a force multiplier
If urban negligence has laid the foundation for Pakistan’s flooding crisis, climate change is now acting as a force multiplier. As Professor Ahmed pointed out, rainfall patterns have shifted significantly. The average rainfall recorded this year in cities such as Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot exceeded historical norms. Low-lying neighbourhoods are inundated almost instantly when it rains, leaving citizens scrambling to protect their belongings.
The combination of heavier rainfall and blocked drainage creates a dangerous cycle. With no channels to absorb or redirect water, even moderate downpours overwhelm urban infrastructure. Overflowing rivers such as the Sutlej and Ravi spill into nearby settlements, causing further damage. Climate unpredictability only deepens the vulnerability of cities already crippled by poor planning.
The human cost of neglect
Behind every image of submerged cars and waterlogged streets lies the human cost of this systemic negligence. Daily wage earners are unable to work, children cannot attend schools, and families lose possessions accumulated over the years. Public health crises follow swiftly, as stagnant water becomes a breeding ground for disease. For millions, the monsoon is not just an inconvenience—it is a season of trauma.
The psychological toll is equally severe. Urban residents find themselves living in constant fear of rain, a natural event that should bring relief but instead heralds disaster. Citizens are forced to improvise survival strategies—raising furniture, sealing doors, or simply fleeing their homes—while officials offer little more than hollow assurances.
The pattern of denial
What makes Pakistan’s flooding crisis most tragic is that it is neither new nor unforeseen. Urban planners, environmentalists, and civil society organisations have long raised alarms about blocked drains, encroached waterways, and reckless construction. Yet year after year, authorities respond with short-term fixes and cosmetic clean-up operations rather than addressing the structural causes of flooding.
Professor Ahmed’s presentation underscored this denial. He noted that rainwater should naturally flow into rivers or the sea through stormwater drains. Yet in city after city, this most basic of urban systems is absent, ignored, or deliberately obstructed. The result is visible to all: flooded streets, displaced communities, and mounting economic losses.
A crisis of governance
At its core, Pakistan’s urban flood crisis is not just an environmental or infrastructural issue—it is a governance failure. The absence of foresight, accountability, and respect for natural systems has created cities that collapse at the first sign of rain.
The situation reflects a broader pattern in Pakistan’s governance culture: reactive firefighting instead of proactive planning, ad-hoc measures instead of institutional reform. Every monsoon season, political leaders rush to inspect flooded areas, issue statements of concern, and promise “comprehensive strategies” that never materialise.
In the meantime, developers continue to build over natural waterways, drainage systems remain clogged, and citizens brace themselves for yet another cycle of devastation. (By, Suraiya Akter & views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author.)
