Heavy rain hits City, disrupts traffic

LAHORE: Heavy but scattered rain hit the city on Tuesday evening while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours.

Met officials said rain in city started around 1.40 pm and continued till 4.40 pm. Lakshmi Chowk received highest 70mm rain, 62mm rain was recorded at Pani Wala Talab and lowest rain was reported at Tajpura.

Severe traffic jams were witnessed on city roads as stagnant rainwater took some hours to drain out. Senior Wasa officials, including Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz, remained in the field to monitor the situation. He said scattered garbage is the biggest cause of blockage of drainage lines. He said a huge and new trunk sewer will soon be laid down in the city after which the citizens will not witness accumulation of rainwater in future. Met officials said seasonal low lies over north Balochistan.

Moderate monsoon currents are still penetrating lower parts of the country and likely to weaken gradually during next 24 hours. Strong monsoon currents from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are likely to penetrate northeastern parts of the country from Wednesday evening/night.

Met officials predicted mainly hot and humid weather in most parts of the country. However, rains/wind-thunderstorm is expected at scattered places in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala Divisions, Kashmir and Islamabad, while at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, Mardan, Zhob divisions and Gilgit-Baltistan. Rainfall was recorded at several cities, including Thatta 147, Hyderabad (City 131, Ap 81), Karachi 9Surjani 119, Saddar 98, Faisal Base 71, North Karachi 65, Jinnah Terminal 60, University road 55, AP 53, Ghulshan e Hadid 52, Masroor 48, Landhi 43, Nazimabad 39, Kemari 14), Shaheed Benazirabad 98, Padidan 80, Badin 59, Mirpurkhas 40, Nagerparker 29, Tandojam 10, Chhor 09, Mithi 05, Dadu 03, Larkana 01, Khanewal 12, Noorpurthal, Layyah 11, Joharabad, Bahawalpur 04, Multan 03, Bhakkar, Bahawalnagar 02, Jhang 01, Muzaffarabad 03, Garhi Dupatta 02, Lasbella 06, Bunji 02, Malam Jabba and D.I.Khan 01. Tuesday’s highest maximum temperature was recorded at Nokkundi where mercury reached 45°C while in Lahore it was 35°C and minimum was 27.2°C.