Two teenagers drown as heavy rainfall wreaks havoc in Lahore

• Low lying areas of provincial capital inundated by torrential rains.
• 205mm rain recorded in the airport area, 204 mm in Gulshan Ravi.
• CM Naqvi hails WASA and district administration's "remarkable efforts".

At least two people drowned in rainwater and another sustained injury as an intermittent spell of heavy monsoon rains rain wreaked havoc in Lahore, with a whopping 203mm of rainfall bringing life to a standstill in the provincial capital.

According to Rescue 1122 sources, two teenage boys of age 14 years and 11 years drowned in the rainwater in the city’s Sherakot Babu Sabu and Nawan Kot areas, respectively.

Another person got injured in a roof collapse incident in the Raiwand area, they added.

Low-lying areas of the provincial capital were inundated by torrential rains with the highest rainfall recorded in the airport area, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) said in a statement.

It said 205mm of rain was recorded in the airport area, 204 mm in Gulshan Ravi, 193mm in the Tajpura SDO Office area, and 190mm in Nishtar Town.

Torrential showers lashed the city for 6 hours and 45 minutes with rainwater entering Jinnah Hospital and General Hospital as well.

In a tweet in the evening, Punjab interim Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Lahore received a whopping 203mm of rainfall in only five hours.

He appreciated WASA and the district administration for “their remarkable efforts in clearing 95% of the water ponding in the city. Keep up the great work!”.

Meanwhile, the heavy rainfall also caused the outer wall of the Noor Jahan tomb to collapse.

According to the spokesperson, the Walled City Authority took charge of the tomb from the Department of Archeology a month ago.

The spokesman said that the northern outer wall and some other parts of the tomb are in dilapidated condition and work will start soon to preserve the damaged parts of the historic site.

Day in the provincial capital broke with a cloudburst across the city which inundated the roads and low-lying areas, bringing life to a flooding halt.

The citizens waded through the streets and roads flooded with rainwater across the provincial capital.

As the rain battered the city, at least 70 feeders of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) tripped, suspending the power supply to several areas.

LESCO spokesperson said that the work for restoring the power supply will be started soon.

The interim CM visited different areas of Lahore to inspect the situation after the downpour.

He directed the city administration and WASA to drain the rainwater from the roads quickly while employing all the resources available.

Naqvi also ordered the authorities to increase the number of dewatering pumps installed in the city and stay in the field to address the problems faced by citizens.

Moreover, he also ordered all-out efforts to keep the traffic flowing without disruption.

On Friday, the Met Office said that monsoon currents are continuously penetrating the country from the Bay of Bengal.

A westerly trough is also affecting the upper parts of the country that may persist during the next few days.

It also warned of urban flooding in the low-lying areas of Lahore and other upper parts of the country.

K-P rains kill two

Four people were killed and one person got injured due to heavy rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a report from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Saturday.

12 houses were partially damaged due to floods and rains across the province, the authority reported.

Nine houses were partially damaged due to the natural disaster in Lower Chitral, it added.

The KP Relief Department, District Administration, PDMA, Rescue 1122, Civil Defense, and related institutions were on alert, a spokesperson Relief Department said when contacted.

A detailed assessment of the damage would be compiled as soon as the flood waters recede in Lower Chitral, he said, adding affected people in Lower Chitral had already been shifted to safer places, he added.

Food items (dry ration) were provided to the affected families, the official said.

He said PDMA had already issued a letter to all the concerned institutions and district administrations on July 17 and 19 for taking precautionary measures against expected heavy rains and floods.

Balochistan rains

Heavy rains also lashed Barkhan, Rakhni and Koh-e-Sulaiman areas of Balochistan.

The torrential rains also caused mudslides in the Fort Munro area, suspending traffic on the national highway connecting the two provinces.

Long queues of vehicles were formed due to the suspension of traffic on the highway near Fort Munro.