Rain emergency declared in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi : The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Saturday declared a rain emergency in the district directing residents settled along Nullah Leh and in low-lying areas to remain on high alert and move to safer places. The residents should adopt precautionary measure because water level in Nullah Leh could touch the dangerous level during heavy rainfall in coming days, Wasa has warned.

The water level in Nullah Leh here at Katarian was 11.4 feet while 7 feet in Gwalmandi during heavy rainfall on Saturday.

Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood told ‘The News’ that ‘Rain Emergency’ has been declared due to heavy rainfall in the coming days from Saturday to Tuesday. “The residents settled along Nullah Leh and in low-lying localities have been directed to shift to some safer places to avert any difficulty during heavy rainfall,” he said adding the leaves of all staff members have been cancelled and they will perform duty at different points.

He said that the staff is well equipped with water sucking machines. “We are ready to face any kind of situation,” he claimed. All sanitation workers have been asked to remain on high alert in areas along Nullah Leh and metro bus stations to prevent water logging. He said that they have removed all rainwater from Liaquat Bagh and Committee Chowk Underpasses. Heavy machinery was continuously working to remove rainwater from Teli Mohallah and Sadqiabad, he claimed.

According to Met Office, Saidpur received 35 mm rainfall, Golra 55 mm, Bokra 19 mm, H-8 53 mm, Shamsabad 32 mm and Chaklala received 34 mm rain. The water level here in Nullah Leh was 6 feet at Katarian point till the filing of this report.

Majority of localities here in city and cantonment board also faced power outages because of heavy rainfall. Several feeders tripped. In many areas low voltage issue was experienced by consumers.

Several vehicles appeared faults on roads during heavy rainfall. The drivers were pushing their cars on roads.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) Chief Chaudhry Abdul Razzaq has advised people not to touch electric pylons during rainfall to avert any untoward incident.