RAWALPINDI: Heavy rain and hailstorm lashed the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Tuesday morning.

The Meteorological Department recorded 19mm rain at Shamsabad, 10mm at Chaklala in Rawalpindiand 31mm at Zero Point, 22mm at Saidpur, 21mm at Golra and 29mm at Bokra in Islamabad during the last 24 hours.

“A strong westerly wave has started affecting Pakistan from today (Tuesday) and likely to grip most parts of the country on March 22,” the Met official said.

He said that rain-wind thunderstorm is expected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Punjab, lower Sindh, Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Isolated rain and hailstorm may hit few places during the forecast period. Isolated heavy falls is also expected at few places in northern and lower districts of Balochistan.

Heavy showers caused total chaos on many Rawalpindi roads including Raja Bazaar, Jamia Masjid Road, Benazir Bhutto Road, the Mall, Airport Road, Rawal Road and Tipu Road.

Meanwhile, the rain brought good news for the pollen patients as the health experts were of the view that the rain washed the small particles in the air.

Wasa Managing Director Mohammad Tanveer told Dawn the Leh Nullah rose to five to six feet only and there were reports of water logging in low lying areas however, the areas had been cleared within an hour.

He said Wasa had imposed rain emergency to avoid flood like situation in Leh Nullah and surroundingareas.

He said that fivefloodresponse units had been established at Moti Mahal, Liaquat Bagh, Commercial Market and Khayaban-i-Sir Syed. The sanitation staff equipped with water sucker machines and other machinery remained on their toes to drain out the water from low lying areas.

He said that theWasa repaired all its machinery including water sucking machines and others to deal with any untoward situation in the coming days.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2023