Heavy monsoon rains expected to hit Islamabad

• PMD forecasts heavy rainfall in Islamabad from July to August. 
• Minister for Climate Change Rehman announces extreme weather may cause flooding. 
• District administration claims they are planning to face an emergency situation.

Heavy showers are forecast in Islamabad from July to August, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). 

Federal Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, announced that the extreme weather may cause flooding in Pakistan as it did in 2010.

Meanwhile, the district administration claimed that they are planning to face an emergency situation. However, the encroachments on drains in Sector E-11 — which caused the death of a mother and her son — and the destruction of their property are still there.

Heavy rains in Islamabad last year wreaked havoc in the E-11 area of ​​the federal capital, killing a mother and her son in the basement of a house, while the remaining three children were rescued. The cause of this incident was the encroachment of a private housing society on the rainwater drain which made the road of the drain so narrow that the rainwater overflowed and entered the houses.

Although the private housing society has taken stay order from the court, the encroachments are still ongoing and the local residents express fear of the upcoming rainfall.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Irfan Memon, said that if more than 100mm of rain falls, the basements of low-lying houses will be closed and may be evacuated if necessary.

The Islamabad administration claimed that they cleaned the drains, however, garbage is still visibly present in the storm drains.