LAHORE: Rain and thunderstorms that lashed several cities in the upper parts of Pakistan and Punjab early on Tuesday claimed 13 lives, including seven in Lahore, breaking however the one-week spell of extremely hot weather in the country.

Temperatures dropped sharply after rain and thunderstorms generated by a cold westerly wave lashed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and north-eastern Punjab. The power distribution system could not withstand the inclement weather in many cities and marred the joy of the natural relief.

Seven construction labourers working at Lahore’s Orange Line Metro Train were killed when the wall of an under-construction godown fell on their tent in which they were sleeping during the windstorm and rain near the ring road’s Quaid-i-Azam inter-change on G.T. Road.

Rescue 1122 officials said four labourers were killed on the spot while three others in hospital where they were taken for treatment. They had come to Lahore to work from Rahim Yar Khan, Mianwali and Jalalpur.

Muskaan, an eight-year-old girl of Manga Mandi, was electrocuted reportedly after touching wires dampened by rain.

In Faisalabad’s Ibne Mariam Colony, a minor girl and her father died after the roof of their house collapsed as rain and windstorm hit the city.

Three people died after lightning struck them in Dera Ismail Khan, reports from the KP district said.

Strong winds, a cloud cover and scattered drizzle in Lahore on Monday had caused the maximum temperature to go down from the previous day’s 45 degrees Celsius to 38.5 degrees. It further dropped to 33 degrees because of the early morning rain on Tuesday. The windstorm that accompanied rain had a velocity of 55km per hour.

The Met department said Murree received 75mm of rain, Lahore City 25, Faisalabad 21, Gujranwala 20, Sargodha 16, Lahore Airport and Bhakkar 12, Jhang 11, Sialkot Cantt 7, Islamabad and Mangla 3, Rawalpindi and Mandi Bahauddin 1, Garhi Dupatta 60, Rawalakot 42, Kotli 6, Muzaffarabad 5, Kakul 32, Malamjabba 23, Saidu Sharif 18, Pattan 16, Cherat and D.I. Khan 13, Kalam 12, Parachinar and Balakot 7, Drosh 5, Bannu and Dir 3, Mirkhani 2, Astore 9, Bunji 6, Hunza 5, Gilgit 4 and Gupis 3.

It remained dry in Sindh, Balochistan and south Punjab where temperatures had hit the critical mark of 50 degrees last week. But rain in the rest of the country drove temperatures down there as well.

The maximum temperature recorded in Shaheed Benazirabad was 48 degrees, Dadu, Padidan, Sukkur, Moenjodero and Turbat 46, and Larkana, Jacobabad and Rohri 45.

The Met department forecast mainly hot and dry weather for most parts of the country in the next 24 hours. However, rain-thunderstorm (with gusty winds) is expected at isolated places in upper KP (Peshawar, Malakand, Hazara and Mardan divisions), upper Punjab (Rawalpindi and Gujranwala divisions), Islamabad, upper Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir during Tuesday night, while dust-raising winds were forecast for Sukkur, Hyderabad and Mirpur Khas divisions and south Punjab (D.G. Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur divisions).

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2016

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