LAHORE: An unexpected westerly wave brought rain and intense wind storms to upper parts of the country on Tuesday, ending an extended heatwave that had gripped the country for the past two weeks.

While the showers and gusty winds brought temperatures down to a pleasant range in many districts in north-east Punjab, at least five people from Muzaffarabad and Lahore lost their lives and scores of others across the country were injured in the havoc wreaked by the stormy winds. Several areas reported power outages, and many shaky constructions were either damaged or destroyed.

According to the Met department, moisture-laden westerly winds brought wind and rain shower to Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Mandi Bahaudidn and Gujranwala on Tuesday afternoon. There was massive disruption in the power supply to many cities as the storm badly affected the distribution system.

At least five people die and scores are injured in roof collapse incidents

The director of the Lahore region of the Met department, Ajmal Shad, said a westerly wave that was passing through upper parts of the country had rushed through north-eastern Punjab up to Lahore and beyond, and with moisture from the Arabian Sea, had brought rain to these areas.

The rains also brought relief to residents of Islamabad, who had been braving an unprecedented heatwave for over a week. The Met department also reported severe windstorms in Manga Mandi, Pattoki and Okara. There were also scattered showers along the National Highway.

It was nearly Iftar time in Lahore when a severe wind storm that raged at 115 kilometres an hour hit the city, affecting visibility for commuters, but also knocking down trees and shaky constructions across the city. The temperature had hit a sweltering 43 degrees Celsius earlier in the day and air humidity was at 60pc, producing an energy-sapping heat index. The storm brought down the temperature to 23 degrees Celsius.

In Lahore, at least two children and a man died in separate roof collapse incidents and eight others were badly injured. At least four fires broke out at various places in Lahore, but Rescue-1122 fire fighters managed to put them out. Around 650 feeders of the city’s power supply tripped, suspending power supply to many parts of the city.

A 320 Airbus travelling from Damam to Sialkot was diverted to Lahore airport due to the sudden change in weather. The aircraft was badly damaged when an ambulance and staircase on the airport’s tarmac rammed into it. Another plane at Lahore airport was damaged after luggage trolleys, swaying because of the intense winds, hit the aircraft.

At least two people died and more than 100 houses and shops were either completely or partially damaged after gusty winds and rain showers hit the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) areas on Tuesday.

Mohammad Safeer, a burger shop owner, was inspecting a construction site in Muzaffarabad when a concrete block, uprooted by the strong winds, hit him in the head, killing him on the spot.

In another incident, a four-year-old girl was killed and her two-year-old brother was injured after the roof of their house collapsed. Over a dozen houses and two educational institutions in the Sudhnoti area of Muzaffarabad were also damaged.

Met officials say that it will continue to remain hot in Sindh, Balochistan and south Punjab. On Tuesday, the maximum temperature in the country was 50 degrees Celsius in Sibi.

Tariq Naqash from Muzaffarabad contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2018