Heavy rains hammer Punjab

Published September 9, 2012

LAHORE, Sept 9: Rescue 1122 and health authorities say almost a dozen people had died in two heavily rain-filled days on Saturday and Sunday in different Punjab districts in roof and wall collapse incidents. The rain affected cotton crop and washed away several roads exposing the quality of civic infrastructure.

In Lahore, a couple, Rehana, 35, and Latif, 37, were killed as the roof of their house in Gowalmandi collapsed during rain.

BAWAHAWALNAGAR: Three people died and 10 were injured in the district.

The heavy rains began on Saturday evening and were lashing the district till Sunday night. The rain claimed three lives and left 10 injured in two incidents.

According to Met office, 87 mm rain was recorded in the district.

In Chak Fateh 49 where the roof of the house of Gogan Bibi caved in, six-year-old Rukhsana and four-year-old Waseem died while Gogan Bibi was injured.

In Chak 27-G, the roof of the house of Allah Bakhsh collapsed wherein his 12-year-old son Ikram died while daughters Yasmin and Shabana and wife Allah Rakhi were injured. In Basti Qadirabad, Zainab was injured in a roof collapse, while Babar Ali, of Quresh Colony, was injured when his motorcycle he was driving slipped. Sixteen mud houses collapsed in Mari Shouq Elahi due to intermittent rains while Abdullah, Sajid, Allah Ditta and Amjad were injured.

The rain adversely affected standing crops, especially cotton, as according to District Agriculture Officer Munir Ahmad 10 per cent of the cotton crop was feared damaged.

VEHARI: Six people were injured in Vehari. Rafique and his wife Shakila, of 83-WB, were injured when the roof of their house collapsed. Two-year-old Abid Husain, son of Zahra, was injured in 11-WB when the wall of the house collapsed.

Imran and Sitara were injured in D-Block, Rescue 1122 reported.

Rains disrupted the routine life due to traffic snarls on roads and suspension of electricity supplies and telephone services. The rainwater inundated TMA offices on Sunday. The municipality that is responsible for draining out water from the city failed to clear its offices.

TMA administrator Ali Akbar Bhatti said the four disposal stations were functional and water would be drained out by Monday (today).

Also, hundreds of acres were under water in Burewala when the Pakpattan Link Canal developed two breaches. The first breach occurred in 5-L Link Canal near Chak 445-EB, and the second in PIL Link Canal near Chak 451-EB. Local residents said they believe that the heavy rains had weakened the canal banks leading to breaches.

The breaches which are 30 to 50 feet wide each have inundated the crops of cotton, paddy and vegetables on 10,000 acres.

Irrigation Sub-Divisional Officer Mian Farooq said that the department had launched the work to fill the rupture and would be complete by Monday (today).

RAHIM YAR KHAN: If intermittent rains were not enough to inundate the district, three breaches occurred in canals inundating crops.

Acting District Coordination Officer Syed Wajid Ali Shah told Dawn that a 15-foot breach in 7-R canal in Liaqatpur, a 30-foot breach in Abe Hayyat Canal and a 25-foot breach occurred in Adam Sahaba distributary in Rahim Yar Khan. He said ruptures were being plugged. The downpour started on Friday evening and continued on Saturday and Sunday turning the streets and roads into pools. Bazaars and markets remained closed on Saturday and Sunday. Three railway underpasses of the city were filled with rainwater. Mr Shah said the municipality had no mechanism for the immediate disposal of rainwater from underpasses.

MUZAFFARGARH: Two children died and a dozen were injured when the roof of a house collapsed in Sultan Colony near Bashir Kot in Muzaffargarh on Sunday.

The rains which had started on Friday continued on Sunday damaging dozens of mud houses in Shah Jamal, Basti Mashori and Kot Addu areas.

Mureed Husain, a police official of Sanawan, said that on Saturday night the a roof of the house of Ghulam Yaseen collapsed in Sultan Colony wherein Yaseen’s children Ali and Hafsa died while he and his wife were injured seriously. Rescue 1122 claimed that 123 people were injured and shifted to hospitals in the district roof collapse incidents.

In Shah Jamal, Basti Mashori and Kot Addu areas many roofs were damaged.

The rains put cotton on 450,000 acres at risk because of excessive rainwater accumulation in fields, said District Agriculture Officer Jamshed Sandhu. He said if the rains continued for another three or four days, the target of cotton crop would not be achieved and farmers would face huge losses.

Rains have also caused the shortage of vegetables and other essential supplies in cities and towns. Vegetable vendors have increased the rates of vegetables. On Sunday, potato was sold at Rs100 per kg against Rs60 per kg on Friday.

The cattle market in Shah Shams area of Multan remained closed on Sunday because of rainwater in the ground. Aslam Gaddi, a cattle trader, said if the market remained closed for another three or four days, there would be shortage of meat in the region.

People were also facing the shortage of dry wood.

MULTAN: The rain also disturbed the routine life of people in the city and its suburbs on Sunday as it forced them to stay indoors, APP reported.

Hundreds of houses were inundated which compelled residents to drain the rainwater. The rainwater also caused traffic mess in various areas, including Hussain Agahi, Arts Council, Tariq Road, Lodhi Colony Road, Nawan Shehr Chowk, general bus stand underpass, Chowk Kachehri, Dera Adda and Aziz Hotel.

The heavy rain demolished walls and roofs of several houses causing injuries to people.

According to local Met office, 148 mm rain was recorded from Sept 6 to 9. However, it remained 45 mm on Sunday. A woman died a roof collapse incident.

TOBA TEK SINGH: Four people died and several others were injured on Saturday when houses fell in different localities of the district due to torrential rains which continued for 20 hours.

According to Rajana police, in village Chak 184-GB, an outhouse collapsed on a farm when due to heavy rain leaving 40-year-old Mumtaz Bibi and her 13-year-old daughter Nasreen Bibi dead while other children, including nine-year-old Bilal Ahmad, eight-year-old Ali Raza and minor son Allah Rakha were seriously injured.

Others injured in the same incident included Umer Hayat, Zarina Bibi, Ramzana Bibi, Ghulam Dastageer and Abu Bakar. They were shifted to the Kamalia Tehsil Headquarters hospital in critical condition.

In another incident roof collapse in Chak 188-GB in Rajana, Muhammad Shafiq died and two others were wounded.

In Kamalia's village 54-2 GB, the roof of house of farmer Ghulam Rasool collapsed. His eight-year-old grandson Shahzad Ahmad Multan died and his mother and four other people were injured.

The rainwater inundated hundreds of houses in Kamalia's Islampura, Katchi Abadi and Bilal Ganj localities. Three houses collapsed but no casualty was reported. Kamalia City Police station's building was filled with rainwater and police had to shift prisoners and record to the Sadar police station.

In Gojra's Rasoolpura locality, the house of labourer Muhammad Shahbaz collapsed which left his two minor sons Muzammal and Mudassar wounded. They were shifted to the Gojra Tehsil Headquarters hospital.

In Toba's Housing Scheme No 2, the roof of a house fell in which Rasheedan Bibi was injured and shifted to the DHQ hospital. Rainwater also entered houses of Qazianwala, Awami Basti, Bakhshi Park and Zia Colony.

Several houses were inundated in Pirmahal, and in Chak-741 GB, live electric wires fell on animals. Three buffaloes of Waris Ali Shah were electrocuted.

SADIQABAD: The streets of Muhajir Colony, Mohallah Mirabad Hussain, Maharabad, Main City, Public Colony and Ghafoorabad were under knee-deep water. No Municipality official was available to comment on the situation.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: The continuous heavy downpour caused landslide in the mountainous tribal area on Dera-Quetta Road near Rakhi Gaaj border military police station which buried a 400foot portion of the road.

The landslide disconnected the district from Balochistan. Highway authorities told Dawn the traffic would be restored in 24 hours.

Torrential flooding inundated dozens of villages and destroyed thousands of acres of standing crops in the areas.

Heavy rains in mountainous Sulaiman range as well as in other parts of the district generated high flood in hill torrents Wadoor, Kaora, Sanghar, Soori Lund, Sakhi Sarwar and Mithawan. Raging flooding of Soori Lund submerged the railway track in the jurisdiction of Kala police station.

In the Dera Ghazi Khan city, four people, including children and women, got injured in a roof collapse in Block 46.

KHANEWAL: A child died and his parents were injured in a roof collapse at Basti Imam Bakhash near Dungyan Pullan on the Khanewal-Kabirwala road on Saturday night, APP reported.

According to Rescue 1122, Khadim Hussain was asleep at his home along with his family when the roof collapsed after heavy rain.

His son Zaib (4) died while he and his wife sustained serious injuries. Rescue 1122 shifted the injured to District Headquarters Hospital, Khanewal.

OKARA: The municipality failed to drain the rainwater from the city streets on Sunday. The rainwater entered every city house. Intermittent rains were lashing the city till our going into the press.

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