LAHORE: Four people were killed and many others injured when a severe storm lashed the city on Wednesday.

Power supply to many areas was disrupted and countless trees and billboards were uprooted as the storm having a maximum gust of 111km per hour (at the airport) hit Lahore. The accompanying rain inundated the low-lying localities.

According to Rescue 1122 officials, Shazia and her two minor children, Asia and Shahzad, were killed when the roof of their house in Chuhng’s LDA Society collapsed during the storm.

In Mian Mir Colony, Javeria, 4, was electrocuted when the roof of her house caved in. Eight other members of the family including children suffered injuries.

The thunderstorm disrupted traffic in the city creating a great deal of inconvenience to people.

Some areas remained without power supply for hours

Dark clouds again appeared in the evening and began to give rain, making weather pleasant.

The Met Department recorded 31mm of rain at the airport and 43mm at its Jail Road observatory. It said the storm was caused by combination of a westerly wave and monsoon currents which also gave ‘rain-thunderstorm’ at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Bannu, Kohat, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad divisions, Fata, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Kohat recorded 30mm of rain, Bannu (28mm), Balakot (15mm), Malamjabba and Parachinar (9mm), Saidu Sharif and Cherat (2mm), Kakul (1mm), Faisalabad (12mm), Gujranwala, Sialkot and Joharabad (6mm), Chakwal and Sargodha (4mm), Mandi Bahauddin, Kamra and Bhakkar (1mm), Gupis (3mm) and Rawalakot received 1mm of rain.

The department forecast rain-thunderstorm with gusty winds at scattered places in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad divisions), Islamabad, Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir in the next 24 hours (Thursday).

Isolated rain is also expected in Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Sahiwal, Zhob and Kalat divisions.

POWER DISRUPTION: As many as 200 feeders tripped and nearly 100 electricity poles were uprooted during the storm, disrupting power supply almost all over the city.

Power supply to Lahore airport remained suspended for nearly 35 minutes. It was also disrupted at the Walton airport after trees fell on electricity wires. It could not be restored at many places till night.

Electricity wires also broke under the impact of the storm in Karim Park and Ravi Road areas and transformers went out of order in Samanabad and Gulberg. Defence was the worst-hit area where power supply was restored after many hours.

Disruption of power supply to government offices such as the Civil Secretariat and the IGP office greatly affected work after the storm.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2017