Rawalpindi
Heavy rainfall lashed Rawalpindi city and cantonment on Monday inundating major roads and low-lying areas, triggering power tripping, besides causing traffic jams. Majority of areas here in city and cantonment faced power outages of long hours as 35 power feeders tripped to disrupt electricity supply.
Massive gridlocks were witnessed on Benazir Bhutto Road, Mall Road, Airport Road, Jhelum Road, Bakramandi Road, Asghar Mall Road, Pirwadhai Road, Peshawar Road and adjoining arteries, compounding the misery of motorists and pedestrians alike.
The residents of Adiala Road, Al-Mumtaz Colony, Lalazar, Bakramandi, Tariqabad, Lalkurti, Dheri Hasanabad, Dhamyal, Rawat, Gulistan Colony, Dhoke Juma, Committee Chowk, Waris Khan, Morgha, Sadiqabad, Muslim Town, Chandni Chowk, Mareer Hasan, Tahli Mohri, Scheme No-III and several other localities faced not only long hours of power outage but also worst water shortage. All filtration plants were also not functioning during power outages. Some of areas are still without electricity till the filing of this report on Monday evening.
Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) Superintendent Engineer (SE) Rawalpindi Muhammad Kaleem told ‘The News’ that around 35 power feeders tripped in city and cantonment localities during heavy rainfall in morning. We have cleared maximum feeders to restore power supply, he claimed. He said that my staff is busy in clearing faults in some of other areas to start power supply.
There are many localities in the city which have been inundated by the rainwater. People had a tough time in draining out the water from their houses in many parts of the city.
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Director Dr Muhammad Hanif has predicted more rainfall during next 12 to 24 hours.
Jan Colony, Arya Mohallah, Bazaar Kallan, Dingi Khoi, Raja Bazaar, Akalgarh, Nadeem Colony, Javed Colony, Dhoke Ratta, Ganjmandi, Jamia Masjid Road, Bani Chowk, Sadiqabad, Satellite Town, Commercial Market, College Road, Bohar Bazaar, Naya Mohallah, Raja Bazaar, Mohanpura, Nanakpura, Arjan Nagar, Amarpura and Pirwadhai areas were submerged in rainwater.
Talking to ‘The News’ Muhammad Saeed, a resident of Gawalmandi, said their locality was above the bed of Leh Nullah but the choked drains and raised water level in the nullah created problems for them. He also said that we faced long hours of power outages during rainfall because of poor electricity system.
Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench Assistant Registrar Khawaja Muhammad Basharat, resident of Defence Road, said that we faced 6 hours power cut from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Monday.
Traders at Bohar Bazaar and Moti Bazaar were also seen draining out the rainwater from their shops. The rainwater also damaged a number of shops. We have already been suffering due to the slump in business these days and the rain has added to our problems, they said.
The heavy rainfall also affected national and international flight operations here at Benazir Bhutto International Airport on Monday morning.