Heavy rains lash Islamabad and Lahore

Heavy monsoon rain in the Federal capital on Monday morning exposed the Capital Development Authority's (CDA) poor sanitation system as gushing rainwater entered several important buildings including Parliament House, Poly Clinic Hospital and Marriott Hotel. The heavy rainfall started at 1130 hours.
It continued for an hour inundating low-lying areas forcing people to flee their houses for safety in view of absence of proper drainage system. The federal capital received 85mm of rain and according to Met Office more monsoon rains with isolated heavy downpour are expected during next 24 hours.
According to reports, the rainwater entered the galleries of the Parliament House while the water leakages were also reported from roofs of some committee rooms. The rainwater also found its way to Emergency ward of Poly Clinic Hospital, hampering the rescue operation and treatment.
Heavy rain besides becoming the cause of traffic jams forced the vehicles to come to a complete halt on various highways for a long time. A few road mishaps were also reported from different areas. The reason for this was attributed to the fact that it had become difficult to drive on wet roads.
The casual and care-free habit of some people had also become a source of worry for other citizens. This was specially witnessed in the low-lying areas. The residents of these areas without taking any caution dump grarbage into streams that may be flowing close to their homes. Now, when heavy rain fallen the garbage that was dumped in the past forced the water to overflow the banks. The rainwater thereafter entered some houses in the company of the garbage that had earlier been thrown away.
However, the people living on the bank of Nullah in G-7 cut down the ramps of small pedestrian bridge to clear the flow of rainwater which was blocked due to garbage in the Nullah, while rainwater also made its way into the offices located near the Nullah causing problems for the employees. When contacted, Director, Directorate of Sanitation CDA, Captain Faiz Mohammad, refused to accept the responsibility for ensuring proper sanitation in the capital city and said Directorate of Emergency and Disaster Management should do this work. He told APP that the construction of roads and other infrastructure has increased and the drainage joints were small which hampered easy flow of rainwater.
M RAFIQUE GORAYA from Lahore adds: Torrential rains lashed Lahore and its suburbs on Monday for more than ten hours and broke 15 years record with 131 mm downpour in a day flooding low laying areas and turning the roads into water channels.
District administration and Wasa officials worked round the clock to pump out the water from the low lying areas and restore traffic on the roads. Pepco electricity feeders tripped in many areas and the city remained without electricity for prolonged hours. Four people, including two women, lost their lives and seven were injured in rain-related incidents in the city.
According to Met Office, Upper Mall received 131 mm rain AirPort=124 mm Misri Shah =116 mm city =90 mm, Farakhhabad=78) in Lahore. Okara received 83 mm, D.I.Khan=62 mm, Sialkot Cantt=59, Dir=55, Bhakkar=50, Peshawar City=47, Risalpur=46, Sargodha=32, Faisalabad=29, Johrabad=20, Muzaffarabad=19, Rawalakot=18, Islamabad 176, Sialkot 59, Dir 55, Bhakkar 50, Peshawar(civil) 47,Risalpur 46, Sialkot(AP) 42, and Rahwali 31 mm. In its forecast for Tuesday, Met Office said widespread thunderstorm//rains with heavy to very heavy falls at scattered places and exceptionally heavy falls at isolated places (more than 100 mm) is expected over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Kashmir. Scattered thunderstorm/rain is also expected over Sindh and north-east Balochistan.
Significant flood forecast: The flood warning centre Lahore has said that medium to high flood was expected in nullahs Deg, Pulkhu, Bhed, Hasri, and Basantar on Tuesday. Under these conditions, areas of Narowal, Sialkot and Gujrat may be inundated. It further said that Rivers Chenab at Khanki and River Ravi at Balloki were in Low Flood Level. River Chenab at Marala was likely to attain Medium to High Flood Level during following 48 hours. All other major Rivers are flowing Below Low Flood Level.