Heavy rain stalls city life and causes 3 deaths

By Amir Nafees

LAHORE: Heavy showers followed by a storm, paralysed civic life in the provincial metropolis on Friday morning.

The day started with pleasant weather conditions, as thick clouds had been hovering in the sky since early morning. But rain started to fall steadily at 9:45am and continued for over an hour. Roads in the northern parts of the provincial metropolis became muddy and slippery, belying the claims made by the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) that it would tackle the situation during the monsoon season.

Conditions in posh localities were not an exception as Zahoor Elahi Road, Lawrence Road, and roads in Model Town, Garden Town, Gulberg, Muslim Town, Cantonment, Defence, Liberty and Cavalry were also inundated. The badly affected areas were Chungi Amarsadhu, Township, Nisbat Road, Walled City, Gowalmandi, Chuburji, Mozang, Shah Aalmi, Shadbagh and Shadman.

The Met Office in Lahore has predicted cloudy weather during the next 24 hours with chances of a thunderstorm and rain. However, the weather was pleasant all over the province, it said.

The maximum temperature in Lahore was recorded at 34.9 Celsius and a minimum of 26.5 Celsius. However, the wind speed was recorded at 56 kilometres per hour.

Township received 60mm of rain, Lahore Airport 34mm, Shahdra 49mm and the city 54mm. Rain was also reported in other parts of the province, said an official at the Met Office. An official of the flood forecast department said although water levels were increasing in rivers, the situation was not alarming and there were no chances of flooding in any part of the country.

He predicted a scattered thunderstorm at the upper and the lower catchment of the River Indus. Scattered thunderstorms are also forecast at the upper and lower catchments of the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers.

Shahnawaz Khan adds: Three children also died in rain-related incidents in the city on Friday. In Bhatti Gate police jurisdiction, Ahmad Butt, 9, was going with his family when he fell into an open manhole invisible in the rain.

In Yakki Gate police jurisdiction, where Muhammad Hassan, a class 9 student, accidentally touched an electrical pole and was electrocuted to death. In Icchra police jurisdiction, Muhammad Asim, 6, was bathing in the rain when he touched a short-circuited electrical pole and died on the spot.

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