Rain breaks 20-year record, kills three people in Lahore

LAHORE: Heavy rain hit the city and broke a 20-year monsoon season record of the heaviest rain on Thursday. The 7-hour spell of rain inundated most of the city’s localities but rainwater was drained out from all the major city roads within a few hours after the rain stopped.

Three persons were killed and three others injured in different roof collapse incidents here on Thursday. Two people were killed when the roof of a workshop collapsed in Daroghawala reportedly due to rain. As a result, two persons were trapped under debris. On being informed, the rescuers rushed to the spot and pulled out a body and a survivor from the debris. The deceased was identified as Azim Hafeez, 44. The injured identified as Faiz Sattar, 45, was shifted to the hospital for medical assistance but could not survive.

Yet in another incident, a man was killed and three others injured when the roof of a house collapsed near Eidgah in Salamatpura area. The deceased was identified as Farhan 24, son of Yaqoob. The injured identified as Ahmad Ali 2, son of Azeem, was shifted to a local hospital while two injured were treated on the spot. The bodies were shifted to the morgue.

The northern and central parts of the city received heavy rains while the southern and eastern areas received a moderate rain. As per the data released by Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) the most rain 238 mm was recorded at Tajpura, 219.6 mm at Lahore Airport, 174 mm at Mughalpura, 159 mm at Chowk Nakhuda, 158 mm at Pani Wala Talab, 143 mm at Lakshami Chowk, 128 mm at Gulshan-e-Ravi 128 mm, Johar Town 124 mm, Farrukhabad 119 mm, Nishtar Town 116 mm, Upper Mall 116 mm, Samanabad 88 mm, Gulberg 76 mm, Jail Road 74 mm and Iqbal Town 63.1 mm.

The rain started early Wednesday and continued till Thursday evening in different spans and turned all major roads, green belts and open places into mini pools and kept on the civic authorities on toes to drain out the rainwater. A large number of motorcyclists took shelter under the underpasses of the city resulting in traffic jams. Rainwater was also accumulated in many low lying localities and caused serious inconvenience for the citizens.

Following the heavy rain, a large number of feeders of Lahore Electric Supply Company also tripped and electricity of several city localities was terminated. Following the rain, traffic wardens also disappeared from their duty places, which resulted in traffic jams on many roads as traffic signals were also went out of order due to rain. Chief Minister Punjab Hamza Shehbaz directed Managing Director Wasa Ghafran Ahmed, Commissioner Lahore, DC Lahore and other senior officials to remain in the field and supervised the post rain operation of draining out stagnant rainwater. MD Wasa also visited all pumping stations in the city to ensure clearance of rainwater in a timely manner. He also checked the de-watering sets and directed the field teams to clear stagnant rainwater from low line localities as soon as possible. All disposal stations were operational and generators were being used during power outages. MD Wasa also visited Lakhshami Chowk and talked to media. He said the rain broke a 20-year record in the city. He said that despite massive rain, most of the areas were cleared from the rainwater. Lakshmi Chowk, Chowk Nakhda, Cooper Road, Do Moria Pul, Aik Moria Pul, Firdous Market, GPO, Anarkali, Ichhra, Jail Road, Davis Road, Allama Iqbal Road, College Road Township and many other areas in Johar Town and adjacent localities were cleared till Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Met officials warned that more heavy rains may generate urban flooding in Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Faisalabad, Lahore and Gujranwala from 21st to 23rd July.

They said rainfall may trigger landslides in Kashmir, Galiyat, Murree, Chillas, Diamir, Gilgit, Hunza, Astore and Skardu during the forecast period. Flash flooding was also expected in local Nullahs of Dera Ghazi Khan and Eastern Balochistan. Met officials said that strong monsoon currents were penetrating in central and southern parts of the country. They predicted that more rain-wind/thundershower were expected in Kashmir, Punjab, Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, upper Sindh and eastern Balochistan and isolated heavy falls in South Punjab. Rainfall was also recorded in other cities including Narowal, Jhang, Hafizabad, Kasur, Rawalpindi, Gujarat, Jhelum, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Mangala, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Mandi Bahawaldin, Chakwal, Joharabad, Attock, Toba Tek Singh, Bahawalnagar, Leh, Takht Bai, Peshawar, Bannu, Cherat, Balakot, Kakul, Khuzdar, Barkhan, Zhob, Kotli, Garhi Duptta, Rawalakot, Muzaffarabad and Thatta.

Thursday’s highest maximum temperature was recorded at Nokundi where mercury reached 47°C while in Lahore it was 28.5°C and minimum was 23°C.