Road users suffer as intermittent rain causes tailbacks, puddles

Islamabad : Islamabad and Rawalpindi woke up to a rainy morning on Tuesday.

The rainfall, which continued intermittently until night amid overcast skies all through the day, turned the weather chilly and threw traffic out of gear.

According to the Met Office, Islamabad's New Airport area received 23 millimetres of rain, Zero Point and Bokra areas 15 millimetres, Golra 14 millimetres and Saidupur 12 millimetres and Rawalpindi's Chaklala area 15 millimetres and Shamsabad area 11 millimetres.

There is also a forecast for intermittent rains with snowfall over hills in Islamabad, Upper Punjab, Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan on Wednesday and Thursday.

Traffic moved at a snail's pace on major roads, especially in Rawalpindi, in the morning, afternoon and evening, the school and office opening and closing time, respectively.

Many roads and streets, especially in low-lying areas, faced water-logging. Many motorcyclists were seen pull over under trees and bridges for cover, while many automobiles broke down on waterlogged roads and thus, causing traffic jams.

There're tailbacks at many places with the traffic cops struggling to regulate the movement of vehicles.

Things were the worst at the arteries near Faizabad intersection. Amid honking of horns by others, some motorists entered wrong lanes in order to make their way through traffic to destinations and thus, worsening the gridlock.

Many blamed the situation on the mismanagement of the traffic police, while some maintained that a good number of motorists didn’t have road sense, while others didn’t use it especially during rush hours.

There were also complaints about traffic lights going out of order at major intersections during rainy days.

The road users demanded that the traffic police come up with a comprehensive strategy to prevent mess on the roads during rainy days.

The rainfall prompted high sales of ‘samosas’ and ‘pakoras’.

At popular shops, including the F-10 Markaz Jamil Sweets, the Blue Area Chinese Samosa Shop and the Farooqia Market Bengali ‘Samosas’, buyers had to wait for quite some time for their order to be delivered. Some even issued tokens in light of the influx of customers.