Heavy rain inundates low-lying areas

LAHORE
Heavy rain with loud thunder and hailstorm hit the provincial capital on Friday which inundated several low-lying areas and major roads.
Johar Town, Allama Iqbal Town and adjacent localities were the worst hit as Met Office recorded 180mm rain in these areas whereas 68mm, 35mm and 23mm rain was recorded at Lahore Airport, Shadman and Shahdara respectively.
MET officials predicted more rain during Friday night and on Saturday in the provincial capital. They said a seasonal low lies over north Balochistan with its trough extending northeastwards. Monsoon currents are penetrating into upper parts of the country. A westerly wave is expected to affect upper parts of the country and likely to persist till Monday.
They said rain-thundershower is expected at scattered places in KPK (Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Bannu, DI Khan, Mardan, Kohat divisions), Upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad divisions), Islamabad, Upper FATA, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, while at isolated places in Multan, DG khan and Zhob divisions Isolated heavy fall is also expected in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Hazara, Mardan, Peshawar divisions. Hot and humid weather is expected elsewhere in the country. MET Office warned that the prevailing high temperatures in northern areas with combination of rainfall may trigger GLOF/flash floods in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral resulting high flows in the local rivers and streams of northern areas.
Friday’s rain started in the noon and continued till evening, inundating most of city roads and commuters faced serious inconvenience. Most roads in Johar Town were submerged by rainwater while gusty winds uprooted several trees and damaged many billboards. A number of trees were also uprooted on Canal Bank Road resulting in long traffic jams.
Similarly, long queues of vehicles were seen on roads in Johar Town, Allama Iqbal Town, Karim Block, Jinnah Hospital, Faisal Town, Township, Expo Center, Canal Bank Road,

Mansoora, Multan Road and nearby localities.
No CDGL machinery was seen on roads to remove the uprooted trees to unblock the roads, which were already inundating by rainwater. Shahid Imam, a resident of F2 block of Johar Town, said though the rain was a blessing but for the residents of Johar Town it always increased miseries.
After every rain, rainwater remains on the roads for several days while no one bothers to clear the greenbelts as well as public parks, which later become breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes, said Faisal, a resident of G block whose car was stuck in rainwater near Tikka Chowk. A number of cars were also seen stuck in the water outside Expo Center where knee-deep water was accumulated on the road. The greenbelts were completely full of rainwater and people were unable to even cross the roads by foot to get help. Though the CDGL spokesman claimed that its quick response teams headed by town administrators under the supervision of DCO Lahore had become active and started arrangements to clear rainwater but in reality no team was seen on the roads during the heavy rain. A CDGL spokesman said the DCO Lahore visited several spots of the city including Lakshami Chowk to inspect the ongoing dewatering process. However, till our filling the report the DCO Lahore and his team were yet to visit Johar Town where 180mm rain was recorded.