Thunderstorm again batters City

Man dies, five injured as tree falls on them near Girja Chowk

LAHORE

A man died and five people suffered injuries after a tree fell on them near Girja Chowk in the North Cantt area during rain on Thursday.

Police said that a tree broke at its base due to strong wind and fell on at least six people who were on their way on a bike and in a rickshaw. They were injured and removed to hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries.

The incident took place when strong winds and heavy rain in the provincial metropolis uprooted trees and left thousands of people without electricity.

Extended monsoon once again hit the City mercilessly as 92mm rain drowned most of the City areas, resulting in worst traffic jams as well as serious inconvenience for the citizens on Thursday.

The rain lashed out at the City in the afternoon and within minutes it showed its strength forcing most of the moving vehicles to halt. Rainwater inundated most of the major City roads and entered the houses in low-lying areas.

Though the officials of civic bodies were on their toes to drain out the rainwater, the City’s drainage system continued to prove that it was unable to handle such a volume of rainwater and needed immediate replacement to deal with such situations in future.

Following the accumulation of rainwater, traffic police blocked entry of vehicles to various parts of The Mall, including the portion right in front of Jinnah Hall, the symbol of City District Government Lahore as over two to three feet high rainwater was present there. Similarly, entry to The Mall from other connecting roads such as Hall Road, Beadon Road, Lawrence Road, GPO, Lahore High Court and Anarkali was stopped as these roads too were full of rainwater.

Sources in Wasa claimed that the situation became worst after majority of water pumps installed by Wasa went out of order due to electricity shutdowns. Unfortunately, most pumps didn’t have a backup generators so they remained stopped for several hours.

Immediately after the rain, the DCO along with his team visited the roads to monitor the situation and specially visited Laxmi Chowk and other nearby areas where accumulated rainwater had disrupted all kind of vehicular movement.

Worst traffic jams were witnessed on Jail Road, Mozang Chungi, Chauburji, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Main Boulevard Gulberg, MM Alam Road, Multan Road, Canal Bank Road, Davis Road, Allama Iqbal Road, Habibullah Road, Samanabad Morr and in the streets of different localities, including Johar Town, Wahdat Colony, Ichhra and Islamia Park. Traffic jams also stopped the movement of rescue vehicles as well as ambulances, and many were seen honking in traffic in various City areas. As usual, most of traffic lights went out of order after the rain while there were no traffic wardens to control traffic at major crossings.

Residents of Ittehad Colony, Alhamd Colony, Wahdat Colony, Ponchh Road, Satluj Block of Allama Iqbal Town, Samanabad and Islamia Park were among those who remained busy in throwing out rainwater from their houses. These areas were badly affected due to accumulated rainwater. Though some of the localities like Ittehad Colony, Alhamd Colony, Shabab Chowk, Pakki Thathi, Bastami Road and Samanabad recently had new drainage systems, the systems failed to handle Thursday’s rainwater. This also raised questions about the future assessment and planning skills of the town planners.

Meanwhile, Met officials said seasonal low lay over north Balochistan while a westerly wave was still affecting upper parts of the country and likely to persist during the next 12 to 18 hours. They predicted rain-thunderstorm at scattered places in upper Punjab; including Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha and Faisalabad divisions; KP, including Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Mardan, Bannu and DI Khan divisions; Islamabad, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, while at isolated places in Zhob, DG Khan, Multan and Sahiwal divisions. Hot and humid weather is likely elsewhere in the country.

Rain was also recorded in other cities, including Toba Tek Singh, 39mm, Layyah, 36mm, Khanpur, 14mm, Chakwal, 12mm, Okara, 07mm, Faisalabad, 6mm, Kasur, 2mm, Sahiwal, 1mm, Sibbi, 22mm, Jacobabad, 19mm, Rohri, 5 mm, Mirkhani, 16mm, Kohat, 9mm, DI Khan, 07mm, Dir, 6mm, Kalam, 3 mm, Drosh, 2mm and Astore, 1mm.

On Thursday, the highest temperature in the country was 42°C, recorded at Turbat. In Lahore, it was 24°C. Speaking of the miseries caused by accumulation of rainwater, majority of the City residents urged Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to visit low-lying localities of Lahore without prior intimidation and see himself what miseries are being faced by the citizens. They also asked the chief minister to immediately approve replacement of decades-old drainage system of Lahore especially that in low-lying areas to save the citizens from this pain.

Tahir, a resident of Lakshami Chowk said since childhood he had seen that Laxmi Chowk was drowned in every rain and all projects done in the past to flush out rainwater failed. He said over two feet high water was on the roads, inundating Montgomery Road, Mcleod Road, Nisbat Road and Railway Road. He claimed that no Wasa official was seen at the Emergency Monsoon Camp set up in the middle of the Chowk to deal with such emergency.

Rehman Ahmed, a resident of Bastami Road, said recently a new drainage system was laid out in Samanabad and adjacent localities but Thursday’s rain showed that this new pipeline was a failure of town planner’s vision.

Attiya Khan, a resident of Ittehad Colony, said there was over two feet water outside her house and one feet high water inside her house. She said she had faced similar situation last year but the government did nothing in this period to save the residents. “Why we are paying taxes when the government is not able to provide us basic facilities,” said Ahsan Syed, a resident of Satluj Block, Allama Iqbal Town. He said every year this area was drowned in rain and people were selling their houses due to this reason.