RAWALPINDI: The twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi received rain on Monday while Murree and its adjoining areas received snow after a long dry spell.

The twin cities received rain and hail accompanied by gusty winds after a almost two months. The met office says this was the first heavy rain of the season.

“The rains in November and December were light. The rain on Monday was the first heavy rain of the current winter season,” an official of the met office said.

He added that the rain will be beneficial for the arid agricultural area of the Potohar region.

The met office recorded 57mm of rain in Chaklala, 50mm in Shamsabad, 52mm in Zero Point and 47mm in Golra. However, the met office has said the weather will be clear on Tuesday.

Many parts of the garrison city experienced interruptions in the supply of electricity, for nine or 10 hours. A resident of Faisal Colony, Mohammad Khalid said the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) complaint line was not being answered.

A resident of Adiala Road, Tauqeer Raja said there was also a shortage of gas soon after the rain started in his area along with the electricity disruption.

Munir Ahmed, a resident of Tench Bhatta said locals were already facing a shortage of water and that with the disruption in the supply of electricity, they could not fill their water tanks.

“We used wood for cooking meals and brought water from an adjoining area,” he said.

“Almost 40 feeders in the city developed faults after gusty winds and the hail storm,” Iesco manager operation Umer Farooq told Dawn.

He said it was difficult to repair the feeders due to the rain. However, he said, feeders were repaired in 90pc of the affected areas and that the remaining areas including Adiala Road, 502 Workshop and Lalazar will get electricity by night.

Doctors said the recent dry spell has led to many upper respiratory diseases including flu, typhoid, asthma, dry cough and skin diseases. They said the coming few days will be clear as the heavy rain has washed dust particles from the air.

Meanwhile, Murree and its adjoining areas received snow fall on Monday. More than a foot of snow had already fallen till the filing of this report and more snow is expected, according to the met office.

A large number of tourists from Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other parts of the country headed towards Murree and the galyat after the snow.

Heavy machinery was used to clear the roads, but the machines caused traffic congestion on the roads of the hill station. Traffic officials were urging tourists to not stop for selfies in order to ensure the smooth flow of traffic. Snow at this time in the year will help raise the underground water level and will facilitate residents of Murree and the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2018