Heavy rain floods City streets

LAHORE:Heavy rain lashed the provincial metropolis turning most of the localities into mini ponds here Monday while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours. Thick black clouds covered the city skies in the evening which later resulted in urban flooding in various areas, including Model Town, Faisal Town, Johar Town, Township, Muslim Town, Shahdara, Bhatti Gate, Islampura, Mughalpura, Dharampura, Ichhra, Gulberg, Kahna, Chungi, Mozang and etc.

As per Wasa officials, 44mm rain was recorded at Johar Town, 36mm at Gulshan-e-Ravi, 29mm at Pani Wala Talab, 28mm at Farooqabad, 27mm at Iqbal Town and Chowk Nakhuda, 25mm at Samanabad, 23mm at Gulberg and Lakshmi Chowk, 22mm at Tajpura, 30mm at Jail Road, 13mm at upper mall, 12mm at Nishtar Town, 6mm at airport and 5mm at Mughalpura.

Scattered and moderate rain continued till our going to press. Clouds were roaring till late at night. All major roads were submerged by rainwater and dozens of cars and motorbikes remained stuck in stagnant rainwater accumulated in all the underpasses of the city while under-construction Firdous Market underpass was also full of rainwater. Cattle markets were also flooded with rainwater and traders and buyers had to face difficulties.

Meanwhile, Met officials said that monsoon currents are penetrating in upper and central parts of the country and likely to strengthen during next 24 to 48 hours. They predicted that rain/wind-thundershowers (with isolated heavy falls) are expected in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Punjab, eastern Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Dust-storm/isolated rain-thundershower is also expected in upper Sindh. Rainfall was recorded at several cities, including Hafizabad 92mm, Mangla 70, Kasur 57, Murree 24, Sialkot (City 13, Airport 04), Sargodha 12, Islamabad (Saidpur 10, Golra 07, Zero Point 05), Mandi Bahauddin 09, Jhelum 07, Gujranwala 05, Chakwal, Gujrat 03, Narowal 02, Rawalpindi (Chaklala 01), Balakot 30, Kakul 03, Kotli 19, Rawalakot, Garhi Dupatta 09, Muzaffarabad 04, Khuzdar 11 and Bunji 1. Monday’s maximum temperature was recorded at Nokkundi, Dalbandin and Bhakkar where mercury reached 44°C while in Lahore, it was 33.7°C and minimum was 23.2°C.