onsoon rains aren’t known to be kind to Lahore. Every time it pours, the City of Gardens witnesses a deluge. The torrential rains of July 4, said to be the first in the season, broke the 30-year-old record for the city, causing flash floods.

Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi took to social media to announce that an unprecedented, nine-hour rainfall of 272 mm, had been recorded. He also mentioned water accumulation on the streets and the overflowing drains had contributed to the situation.

A major operation was initiated to drain the water from the streets as well as homes, and to restore electricity at places where heavy showers had caused breakdowns. Naqvi personally visited the worst affected area including Muslim Town, Garden Town and Gulberg. He engaged with the common people and assured them of full support.

But the city continues to suffer because of poor drainage and lack of practical plans for rainwater harvesting. According to Dr Shaker Mahmood Mayo, a professor of city and regional planning at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, we may have to live with urban flooding in times to come.

Explaining the phenomenon of urban flooding, he says it refers to the inundation of urban areas, typically caused by heavy rainfall or the inability of urban infrastructure to effectively manage and drain excess water. It generally occurs when the capacity of urban drainage systems such as stormwater drains and sewers is exceeded by the volume of rainfall or when the natural absorption capacity of the land is reduced due to urbanisation.

Monsoon is the most hectic season for the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA). Reportedly, after the recent downpour, 134 WASA pumps were used for dewatering. A spokesperson for Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) stated that their field staff had been put on high alert.

Environmental activist and lawyer, Ahmed Rafay Alam, says that whenever it rains in Lahore, water accumulates in streets. However, he insists that there’s “no issue with the city’s drainage. The problem is climate change and excessive rains, which overwhelm the system.”

“There’s no issue with the city’s drainage system; the problem is climate change and excessive rains, which overwhelm the system.” — Environmental activist and lawyer, Ahmed Rafay Alam

Alam also says that town planners had no idea of such heavy downpours when they planned the system decades ago. He says that every year before the start of the rainy season, the WASA used to launch a massive drive to clean the drains; but the caretaker government had shown criminal negligence in this regard.

Dr Mayo relates a host of factors that contribute to urban flooding, including inadequate drainage, improper land use planning, rapid urbanisation, loss of natural water absorption areas (such as wetlands) and the expansion of impermeable surfaces like concrete and asphalt.

In densely populated urban areas, the increased concentration of buildings, roads and other infrastructure reduces the amount of open land available for water to seep underground, resulting in rapid surface runoff and subsequent flooding.

Dr Sahar Zia, whose PhD thesis was on the causes and consequences of urban flooding in Lahore, believes that the increased risk of urban flooding in developing megacities demands urgent attention and prioritisation of urban flood risk management through the evolution of mitigation strategies.

She says that urbanisation reduces vegetation cover, transforms open lands into impervious surfaces (such as concrete roads and buildings) and increases the probability of water runoff during or after rainfall. These challenges are particularly common to megacities in developing countries.

According to a recent report by the World Bank, cities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Rawalpindi, which account for approximately 22 percent of Pakistan’s total population, have experienced the worst incidents of urban flooding over the past decade. Consequently, government officials and policymakers in these megacities have been looking for solutions to protect their large populations from the phenomenon. According to Dr Zia, in Lahore, population growth has aggravated the problem. The socio-economic characteristics of the population play a significant role in determining the magnitude of damage caused by urban flooding. Yet, this aspect is often overlooked. The government must explore mitigation strategies through an assessment of socio-economic factors and their consequences in Lahore.

The writer is a media veteran interested in politics, consumer rights and entrepreneurship