Heavy to very Heavy monsoon rains lashed Lahore and other cities of central Punjab on Friday for more than five hours inundating the low laying areas and turning the roads, streets and public parks into water channels and lakes. Hospitals in the city were placed on high alert and Wasa staff worked round the clock to pump out the water from the thickly populated areas.
Lakshmi Chowk, Garhi Shahu, Davis road, Iqbal town, Johar town, Ichra, Multan road Shad Bagh, north Lahore and several areas of the city were inundated where rain water entered in to some houses. In Shahdara a boy, Imran was killed when the roof of his house collapsed, while his sister was injured. A young man also lost his life due to electrocution in Misri Shah. Sky was overcast with thick clouds when this report was filed.
In its weather report Met Office said Rain/thundershower with isolated heavy falls occurred in Sindh and upper Punjab, while scattered rain with thundershower also occurred in Peshawar, Kohat, Hazara, Malakand divisions, GB & Kashmir. Met Offices recorded rains as follows: Sukkur 99 mm, Lahore city =84 mm Nawabshah 83 mm Rawalpindi 62 mm, Okara =60, Mithi 59 mm Islamabad 56 mm, Sialkot cantt. =52 ,Kotli =46, Badin & Sahiwal =43(each), Sialkot A/P , Sargodha =32,Jhelum =31, Risalpur =30, Murree =29, Chakwal =27, Mangla & Mandi-Baha-ud-Din =25(each), Rawalakot & Lower Dir =24(each), Cherat =23, Jacobabad =22, Garhi Dupatta & Hyderabad =15(each), Malamjabba =14,Kakul =12, Muzaffarabad =11, Rohri =10, Saidu Sharif & Skardu =09, Bahawalpur A/P =08, Balakot & Chhor =04(each), Joharabad & Astore =03(each), DIR & Mithi =02(each), Pattan, Khuzdar, Nawabshah & Peshawar A/P =01(each), Khanpur, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan & Karachi A/P =Trace(each).
It said fairly widespread thundershowers with isolated Heavy to very Heavy falls are expected over Sindh, Kashmir, Punjab & lower Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and GB today (Saturday).
About further weather outlook for next two days, the Met office said fairly widespread thundershowers with isolated Heavy to very Heavy falls is expected over the upper catchments of Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi & Sutlej Rivers along with North-Northeast Punjab (Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi divisions.
SIGNIFICANT FLOOD FORECAST Meanwhile flood warning centre said that moderate flooding likely in Hill Torrents of DG Khan and Rajanpur Districts due to moderate/ heavy rains at times in Suleiman range during the period from 1900 PST of 12.08.2011 to 0400 PST of 13.08.2011. It said river Ravi at Balloki & River Kabul at Nowshera are in low flood level. All the other major Rivers are flowing below low flood level.