Sleepless night for residents of low-lying areas

Rawalpindi: Heavy rainfall in wee hours of the Wednesday night sent shivers down spine of the residents of the low-lying areas of the city and some of them even came out of their houses to avoid any untoward situation.

"The rain that started at 2 a.m. in the Wednesday night later turned out to be dangerous as the water level in the Nullah Leh increased to a considerable level. We came out of the house to review the situation that was looking dangerous due to consistent rainfall," said Inayat Warsi, a resident of New Katarian.

When the water level in Nullah Leh rises over 22 feet, those living along the storm drain are evacuated. Flood sirens are sounded when the water rises above 28 feet. There was no such situation but still the residents were so worried due to heavy rainfall that caused raise in level of water in the Nullah Leh.

Though the local administration cleaned the Nullah Leh before the pre-monsoon set in the continuous rain can cause the water in the nullah to reach danger level. The residents of various areas including Dhoke Kala Khan, Sadiqabad, Dhoke Mangtal, Dhoke Rata Amral and Dhoke Hassu faced difficult situation as  rainwater entered their houses and damaged their household items due to poor drainage system in their respective localities.

The newly constructed IJ Principal Road was inundated by the rainwater that was later drained out by the local administration.