Roads under water as heavy rain hits City

LAHORE:Heavy rain caused urban flooding in the provincial metropolis here Tuesday while the Met office predicted more rains during the next 24 hours. The rain, which started early Tuesday continued till evening in different spans and besides inundating almost every locality also brought down the mercury by almost 10 degrees.

As per the rain data collected from Wasa, Airport received 193mm rain, Tajpura 190mm, Nishtar Town 174mm, Gulshan-e-Ravi 162mm, Gulberg 158mm, Johar Town 135mm, Iqbal Town 126mm, Lakshmi Chowk 112mm, Upper Mall 105mm, Mughalpura 104mm, Qurtaba Chowk 101mm, City 85mm, Samanabad 84mm, Shahi Qila 59mm, Farrukhabad 43mm and Chowk Nakhuda 33mm. The rainwater inundated city roads slowing down the traffic and blockage at various points. Rainwater also accumulated in open plots, parks, greenbelts, graveyards and other places.

During the rain, Wasa MD Ghafran Ahmed also visited several city areas, including disposal stations to ensure they were working. He also visited sore points and passed necessary directions to the field staff. He said that all staff members were active in the field and almost 90 percent roads were cleared. He said Wasa staff would remain in the field until 100 percent clearance of rainwater.

During the rain, Wasa paid special attention on underpasses and 22 sore points and kept them clear. On the directions of Wasa MD, the agency moved heavy machinery to Tajpura and directed the field formations to immediately start rainwater drainage process. He remained in the field and supervised the operation.

He inspected the drainage operation in low-lying areas and checked the availability of de-watering pumps and other equipment. Commissioner Lahore Muhammad Ali Randhawa along with Wasa MD Ghafran Ahmed also toured the City during which Wasa MD briefed commissioner about the post-rain drainage operations. Commissioner gave instructions to speed up the drainage operation.

Wasa MD instructed that all ponding points should be cleared by bringing all heavy machinery into use. He said most of the areas, including Chowk Nakhuda, Cooper Road, Do Moria and Aik Moria Pul, Empress Road, Firdous Market, GPO Chowk, Kashmir Road, Lakshmi Chowk, Lytton Road, Nabha Road, Bhatti Chowk, Sheranwala Gate, Chauburji Chowk and Shah Jamal were cleared till evening.

Meanwhile, Met officials said a westerly wave was present over upper and western parts of the country. They predicted that widespread rain-wind/thundershower was expected in Sindh while at few places in Eastern Punjab, North/East Balochistan, Upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. Heavy falls were also expected at isolated places in Lower Sindh during the period. Tuesday’s maximum temperature was recorded at Turbat where mercury reached 42°C, while in Lahore, it was 27.2°C and minimum was 21.5°C.

Three injured in roof collapse during rain

Two women among three persons were injured when the roof of the first floor of a house collapsed during rain near Old Airport on Tuesday. On being informed, the rescuers rushed to the spot and shifted the injured man and women to Lahore General Hospital. The injured were identified as Nasreen, Merab and Hassan.