Heavy rain hits Lahore; more rain forecast

LAHORE: Heavy monsoon rain once again hit the city here Thursday while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours.

The rain started early morning and 50mm rainfall was recorded in just 30 minutes at many key points, including Laxmi Chowk resulting in inconvenience for citizens and road users. The rainwater was accumulated at many low-lying areas.

Wasa Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz said that rainwater was drained out from outside GPO, Supreme Court Building, Anarkali, Faisal Chowk, Bhatti Gate, Tajpura and many other places in record time of an hour while Laxmi Chowk was cleared within two hours of rain stopped.

Met officials said that seasonal low lies over north Balochistan. Strong monsoon currents from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are penetrating upper parts & central parts of the country. They predicted that widespread rains/wind-thunderstorm (with isolated heavy falls) are expected in Hazara, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur Divisions, Islamabad, Kashmir, while at scattered places in Malakand, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismael Khan, Zhob, Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Rainfall was also recorded at several cities, including Islamabad (Saidpur 155, Z/P 97, Golra 61, Bokra 55, A/P 51), Rawalpindi (Shamsabad 71, Chaklala 68), Bhakkar 56, Mangla 53, Jhelum 37, Murree 28, Attock 19, Sialkot (City 18, A/P 09), Layyah 14, Multan 08, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal, Chakwal 01, Balakot 49, DI Khan 40, Kakul 26, Saidu Sharif 10, Dir (Upper 03, Lower 01), Cherat 02, Kotli 56, Muzaffarabad 10,Garhi Dupatta 08, Kalat 44 and Zhob 05. Thursday’s maximum temperature was recorded at Nokkundi where mercury reached 45°C while in Lahore, it was 32°C and minimum was 24.8°C.