Rain washes away smog, cleans Lahore

LAHORE: Day-long moderate rain has cleaned the provincial metropolis by washing away smog and air pollutants gripping the city for the past two months here on Wednesday while Met office predicted more rains during the next 24 hours.

The rain, which started early morning, brought city life to a standstill while hundreds of feeders of Lesco also went out of order. All major roads, residential and commercial areas, playgrounds, stadiums, graveyards, bus stands and public parks were filled with rainwater.

Wasa officials, including its Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz, were on their toes to drain out the stagnant rainwater, which remained on city roads for hours. Wasa MD said that water was effectively drained out from all the main choking points even during the rain.

Over 200 feeders of Lesco were also closed down due to the continuous rain depriving more than 40 percent of the city population of electricity. As there was no electricity in half of the city localities, residents faced serious problems in getting drinking water because they were unable to operate their motors while many tube-wells of Wasa were also silent.

Wasa Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz said that till evening most of the 22 sore points, including Lakshmi Chowk, Haji Camp, Firdos Market, Kashmir Road, GPO, Sheranwala Gate, Aik Moriya Pul, Mozang, Qartaba Chowk, Lawrence Road and Ichhara were cleared from rainwater.

Meanwhile, Met officials said a strong westerly wave was affecting most parts of the country and may persist till Sunday. They predicted that widespread rains were expected in Balochistan and Sindh while more rains with snow over the hills at isolated places in upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, upper Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir during evening/night. They predicted heavy rains in Balochistan and upper Sindh during the period.

Rainfall was recorded in several other cities, including Pasni, Gwadar, Ormara, Khuzdar, Panjgur, Jiwani, Turbat, Lasbella, Quetta, Kalat, Barkhan, Kohlu, Sibbi, Pattan, Kalam, Dir, Saidu Sharif, Balakot, Kakul, Chitral, Drosh, Parachinar, Malam Jabba, Cherat, Mirkhani, Takht Bai, Bannu, Peshawar, DI Khan, Kotli, Garhi Dupatta, Rawalakot, Muzaffarabad, Karachi, Padidan, Dadu, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Rohri, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Thatta, Khairpur, Tandojam, Sakrand, Larkana, Mohenjo-Daro, Mirpur Khas, Chhor, Mithi, Shaheed Benazirabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Attock, Mangla, Murree, Jhelum, Chakwal, Rahim Yar Khan, Sargodha, Noorpurthal, Bahawalpur, Joharabad, Faisalabad, Jhang, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot, Toba Tek Singh, Khanpur, Khanewal, Kot Addu, Okara, DG Khan, Hafizabad Bahawalnagar, Multan, Narowal, Gujrat, Sahiwal, Bhakkar, Layyah, Kasur, Gujranwala, Gupis, Skardu, Bagrote and Gilgit.

They said snowfall was recorded at Kalam, Malam Jabba, Murree, Parachinar, Dir, Chitral, Astore, Gupis, Drosh, Skardu and Bagrote. Wednesday's minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped to -07°C while in Lahore, it was 9°C and maximum was 18°C.