Intense thunderstorm with wind lashes northern, northeastern Punjab
Pakistan
Lahore again received heavy downpour with low-lying areas inundated
LAHORE (Web Desk) – Thunderstorm with wind and heavy rain struck northern and northeastern Punjab on Saturday morning, as the hundreds of thousands of mourners are observing Youm-e-Ashur to pay homage to the sacrifices of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA).
It had started raining in Gujranwala after midnight, turning the weather pleasant after the humidity level increased during the last 24 hours. However, the downpour resulted in submerging the low-lying areas.
But the heaviest rain was again experienced in Lahore where it started pouring down around 8am in different parts of the city and later expanded to the entire area, inundating the roads and some residential/ business areas.
The chief amounts of rain recorded in different parts of Lahore is given as: Gulshan-e-Ravi 155mm, Paniwala Talab 146mm, Qartaba Chowk 109, Nishtar Town 104, Lakshmi Chowk 101mm, Johar Town 96mm and Tajpura 80mm.
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However, less traffic on roads because of the two-day Ashura-related holidays meant that few number of people faced problems while traveling. But the area and route, where the main Youm-e-Ashur procession is held every year, in notorious for water accumulation due to poor drainage.
That’s why Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin directed the authorities concerned to drain the rainwater from the routes of Moharram processions in not only Lahore but also other towns and cities.
The intensity of rain being observed in Lahore and other parts of northeastern Punjab during the current monsoon season is much very high with an alarmingly high amount of rainfall recorded in a short period of time repeatedly.
Moreover, more than 200mm of rain has been recorded in several localities on multiple occasions which fell in four hours or so, while localized heavy rainfall is also being witnessed with other parts of the city completely dry.
Earlier, the Met Office had warned of vigorous Monsoon activity in upper and central parts of the country till Sunday.
According to the Met Office, Islamabad’s Saidpur area received 98mm of rain followed by Golra 79mm, ZP 75mm, Bokra 62mm and Airport 7mm during the past 24 hours [till 8am]. It was followed by Rawalpindi (Shamsabad 72mm, Chaklala 54mm), Gujranwala 63mm, Kotli and Larkana 52mm, Muzaffarabad (AP 45, City 28), Sialkot (City 49mm, Airport 43mm), Saidu Sharif 42mm and Barkhan 36mm.
