LAHORE – At least four people including three children lost their lives, as heavy rain pummelled Lahore for the second day, causing massive urban flooding in parts of the city.
The torrential rains which continued for hours flabbergasted citizens, turning low-lying areas of the metropolis into ponds.
Two separate incidents marred people; in the first case, a roof of an aging house collapsed near the Amar Sidhu area, killing four people, including three children. Another child was wounded and shifted to the Lahore General Hospital.
In another incident, more than a dozen others suffered injuries as wall of the Government Mozang Teaching Hospital collapsed due to heavy rains.
Data shared by local authorities revealed that Nishtar Town received 65mm of rain, Johar Town SDO office gets 57mm while 38mm of rainfall was recorded at Lakshmi Chowk.
Monsoon rains bring life to a standstill in Lahore
Rains brought life to a standstill in Lahore as rainwater inundated roads and streets not only in low-lying but also in almost all the posh localities. No respite from urban flooding is in sight as the meteorological department has forecast more rains with occasional heavy falls for the provincial metropolis during the next couple of days.
The rains started Tuesday night and continued intermittently till filing of this report, submerging roads and streets in most of the city localities in knee deep water. The worst affected areas include Sir Agha Khan Road, Kashmir Road, Nicholson Road, Qartaba Chowk, Sharey Fatima Jinnah, Waris Road, Main Boulevard Allama Iqbal Town, portions of Johar Town, Gulberg, Garden Town, Revaz Garden, Tajpura, Maskeen Pura, Duban Pura, Abbot Road, Samanabad, Lytton Road, Islampura, Jorey Pull, Kalima Chowk underpass, Hanjarwal, Akbari Mandi and portions of The Mall and Jail Road.
Intervals between wet spells were not enough for the ‘premier sanitation agency’ WASA to clear inundated rainwater from several localities. As such, several city roads/streets are still under water right from the start of ongoing monsoon rains spell last Tuesday night.
Urban flooding added to the woes and miseries of motorists and pedestrians. Frequent jams were witnessed throughout the city. Vehicles and two-wheelers were seen broken down on inundated city roads. Downpour and strong winds also caused tripping of dozens of LESCO feeders, depriving citizens in several localities from the facility of electricity. Power outages also caused shortage of water in various city areas.
