LAHORE: Heavy rain is expected on Wednesday (today) throughout Punjab, causing urban flooding in low-lying areas of Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala, and Lahore, said Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in a latest weather alert.

It may also trigger landslides in the vulnerable areas of Murree, Galliyat, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the period, the alert added. The PMD had issued a similar warning on 13th of July. However, no major spell occurred in the upper parts of the country and most of the monsoon rains took place in neighbouring India.

According to media reports, heavy rainfall has damaged newly-planted rice crops in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and many farmers may have to replant. On the other hand, scant rainfall has delayed the planting of rice, corn, cotton, soyabeans, groundnuts and pulses in states including Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and West Bengal. Sugarcane growers in top-producing Maharashtra and Karnataka states are also worried that scant rainfall during the crop’s crucial growth period could trim yields and reduce sugar output.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023