The City of Lights, home to countless dreams, a cradle of poets and artists, and Pakistan’s never-sleeping financial hub, lay submerged after hours of relentless rain on August 19, 2025. Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi’s main artery, did not face the flood alone; it carried the cries, fears, and unspoken struggles of millions across the city.
Now, as September rains lash the city once more, the story repeats, with streets vanishing beneath water, educational institutions closing, and neighborhoods bracing for another cycle of fear, loss, and suffering.
An Eye-Opening Crisis
The recent urban flood was more than a monsoon storm; it was a harsh reminder of Karachi’s vulnerability. Rising waters engulfed vehicles, swept into homes, and forced students and workers to struggle for safety—moments they will not forget. Streets turned into raging rivers, and the rhythm of daily life came to a painful standstill.
Yet even as the city faltered, humanity rose above the waters. Mosques, imambargahs, hotels, shops, and homes opened their doors. Strangers helped strangers with food, shelter, and the simple courage of guiding one another to safety. The flood laid bare Karachi’s fragility, but it also revealed its soul, proving once again that when systems collapse, the people themselves become the system and run the city.
Drains That Fail at 40mm
Unfortunately, Karachi’s drainage system fails catastrophically once rainfall exceeds just 40 mm, a threshold acknowledged by Mayor Murtaza Wahab, causing widespread flooding. Recent heavy rains recorded up to 178 mm in northeast Karachi and 163.5 mm near the airport, far beyond the system’s capacity.
By global standards, this level of rainfall is manageable. While Karachi struggles with submerged streets, stranded citizens, and paralyzed roads, other cities that endure even heavier rainfall have taken proactive steps to avoid such chaos. Cities in China—Wuhan, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Xiamen—experience far more rain but have adopted sponge-city infrastructure, including permeable pavements, green roofs, rain gardens, and underground storage systems that efficiently absorb and manage rainwater.
Karachi, however, lacks such infrastructure. Its decades-old drains, mostly clogged with waste, fail to cope even with moderate rainfall, leaving the city exposed and struggling every monsoon.
Fact Box: Adding to the challenge, Karachi produces over 12,000 tons of garbage daily, much of which blocks drains and pollutes waterways.
The Paradox of a Wealthy Yet Broken City
Ironically, Karachi is not a poor backwater; it is Pakistan’s financial powerhouse. It contributes 60% of federal tax revenue and nearly 80% of Sindh’s provincial collections. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) itself is no stranger to revenue generation. In August 2024 alone, it collected Rs 220 million through the municipal utility tax, and for FY 2025–26, it announced a Rs 55 billion surplus budget.
On paper, Karachi should thrive. Yet the reality tells another story: broken roads, uncollected waste, and drainage systems that collapse at the first sign of rain. The bitter irony is on full display as the offices of KMC, KW&SC, and SSWMB themselves are surrounded by floodwaters, a metaphor for governance drowning in its own negligence.
Beyond Neglect: A Civic Question
Governance alone is not to blame. The same citizens who show boundless kindness in disaster often remain silent when it comes to demanding their fundamental rights. How often do residents protest when garbage piles up in their neighborhoods? How often do they confront the smoke that chokes their food streets?
Limited civic participation and a lack of awareness about how city administration works have deepened the decline. Many young people don’t know which institutions manage their neighborhoods and without knowledge, there can be no accountability. Karachi survives on compassion during crises, but it will only thrive when this compassion is paired with daily civic action.
Can a Sponge City Save Karachi?
Every monsoon, Karachi drowns not just in rainwater but in questions: Why does a city of 20 million collapse after a few hours of rain? Why do drains overflow so quickly? Why does garbage float on every street?
The answer lies in how the city is built. Karachi is a concrete jungle. Roads, rooftops, and pavements are sealed surfaces that do not absorb water. When it rains, every drop rushes into already-choked drains. The result: paralyzed roads, stranded families, and flooded homes.
But what if the city could behave differently like a sponge?
What is the Sponge City Model?
The sponge city model is an urban design approach that treats rainwater as a resource, not a nuisance. Instead of forcing all rain into drains, a sponge city absorbs, stores, filters, and reuses water just like a sponge.
This isn’t one big project. It’s a network of many small solutions spread across neighborhoods:
- pavements that soak water into the soil,
- green spaces that hold stormwater,
- rooftops that collect rain, and
- wetlands that filter runoff before it pollutes rivers or the sea.
Together, these create a city that can survive heavy rainfall without chaos, while also solving water scarcity.
Why Karachi Needs a Sponge City Approach
- Fragile drains collapse after just 40 mm of rainfall.
- Concrete surfaces everywhere mean almost zero absorption.
- Garbage crisis: plastic bags and waste block drains.
- Chronic water shortages persist despite seasonal rainfall.
- Climate change brings heavier, irregular rains that make flooding worse every year.
Karachi cannot rely on bigger drains alone. It needs a smarter system that reduces flooding at the source while securing more water for the future.
Smart Fixes for Karachi
1. Permeable Pavements from Recycled Waste
Normal roads are made of asphalt or concrete, which repel water. Permeable pavements, on the other hand, are built with porous materials that let water seep into the ground beneath.
For Karachi, this is a two-in-one solution:
- Flood relief: less standing water on roads, fewer blocked drains.
- Recycling: plastic waste and construction debris can be repurposed into pavement materials.
Flood-resistant roads and a new way to recycle Karachi’s garbage mountain.
2. Rain Gardens and Urban Wetlands
A rain garden is a small, planted area (filled with sand, soil, and native plants) that collects and filters rainwater. An urban wetland is a larger green patch near drains or open plots that holds stormwater temporarily.
These systems:
- Trap debris and plastic bags before they choke drains.
- Filter polluted water through soil and plants.
- Create green oases that improve air quality and support biodiversity.
3. Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting
Karachi’s thousands of flat rooftops are wasted rain catchers. Instead of letting rain rush into streets, buildings can install pipes and tanks to collect rooftop water.
The stored water can be used for:
- household chores such as washing, gardening, and flushing,
- industrial processes, or
- recharging underground aquifers.
4. Green Roofs and Vertical Gardens
Plant-covered rooftops and walls absorb rain, cool down urban heat, and beautify neighborhoods. They act as mini-reservoirs and reduce pressure on drains.
5. Underground Water Storage Parks
In China, sponge city initiatives often incorporate underground storage systems beneath parks and playgrounds to manage excess rainwater. These systems help prevent urban flooding by capturing and slowly releasing stormwater.
Why It Matters
- Fewer floods: drier homes and streets.
- More water: reduces shortages.
- Cleaner environment: less garbage in drains.
- Lower costs: fewer damages and rescues.
- Climate resilience: ready for extreme weather.
Governance and Grassroots: A New Urban Contract
The city’s disaster management cannot remain hostage to turf wars between agencies. A new urban contract is needed, one that decentralizes authority, empowers local councils, and builds transparent public-private partnerships.
Citizens, too, must move from survival mode to sustained action. Grassroots cleanups, recycling startups, and awareness campaigns show potential, but without institutional support, these efforts remain bandages on a hemorrhage.
Karachi on the Climate Frontline
Karachi’s collapse mirrors Pakistan’s broader climate vulnerability. In recent years, the country has lost more than 800 lives to cloudbursts, landslides, flash floods, and urban inundation. Despite contributing less than 1% to global greenhouse gas emissions as stated by UNEP, Pakistan bears a heavy price. Local mismanagement magnifies this global injustice, as poor planning and civic disengagement turn natural hazards into man-made disasters. Karachi, with its high population density and economic significance, stands on the frontline of both crises.
From Hashtags to Accountability
Social media has become a powerful equalizer, exposing failures, amplifying voices, and mobilizing green movements. But hashtags alone cannot unclog drains. For true change, digital outrage must evolve into civic pressure: demanding accountability, tracking budgets, and pushing reforms.
The Way Forward:
While it offers numerous advantages, implementing sponge-city principles in Karachi faces significant challenges, including aging drainage infrastructure, dense urban development, high implementation costs, weak institutional coordination, and limited civic awareness. These obstacles can be addressed through phased infrastructure upgrades, integration of green and permeable surfaces, empowered local governance, and sustained community engagement. Research indicates that Karachi’s resilience depends on combining structural, institutional, and social participation. With coordinated planning and committed citizen involvement, the city can not only withstand heavy rains but also emerge stronger, greener, and more sustainable. Karachi cannot survive another season of tears. Its future rests on the courage to clean itself—politically, institutionally, and literally.
References
- The Friday Times. (2025, August 30). Karachi floods: When rain turns from blessing to nightmare. Retrieved from https://www.thefridaytimes.com/30-Aug-2025/karachi-floods-when-rain-turns-from-blessing-to-nightmare
- Brecorder. (2025, August). Mayor says KMC’s storm drains have capacity for 40mm rainfall. Retrieved from https://www.brecorder.com/news/40379248/mayor-says-kmcs-storm-drains-have-capacity-for-40mm-rainfall
- The Express Tribune. (2025, August). Wahab pins Karachi torrential rain damage on climate change. Retrieved from https://tribune.com.pk/story/2562195/wahab-pins-karachi-torrential-rain-damage-on-climate-change
- Archi Times Online. (2025). Can Karachi soak up the storm? How a sponge city model could tame urban flooding. Retrieved from https://architimesonline.com/can-karachi-soak-up-the-storm-how-a-sponge-city-model-could-tame-urban-flooding
- The Guardian. (2025, March 12). Global ‘climate whiplash’ hitting world’s biggest cities, study reveals. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/12/global-weirding-climate-whiplash-hitting-worlds-biggest-cities-study-reveals
- Sponge Cities in China: Leading the Way. The Environmental Blog, August 3, 2024. https://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2024/08/sponge-cities-in-china/
- “Inside China’s leading ‘sponge city’: Wuhan’s war with water,” The Guardian, January 23, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jan/23/inside-chinas-leading-sponge-city-wuhans-war-with-water
- Adapting China’s Sponge City Model to Karachi: Challenges and Opportunities for Urban Flood Resilience – Youlin Magazine
- (PDF) Challenges and considerations of applying nature-based solutions for future mega-cities: Implications for Karachi as a Sponge City
- Sponge City Illustration.” DSD Sustainability Report 2016–17, Section 3.1.2, Drainage Services Department (Hong Kong), 2016–17
- Karachi Faces Urban Flooding Threat Yet Again as More Rain Predicted