RAWALPINDI’S latest flooding should put paid to the fiction that urban inundation is an unavoidable consequence of the monsoon. On Wednesday, the twin cities received their heaviest rainfall of the season, with 147mm recorded at Kutchery and 127mm at Shamsabad. Leh Nullah rose to 6.7m at New Kattarian, warning sirens were sounded, and water entered homes, shops and markets across low-lying neighbourhoods. Yet the nullah itself did not overflow. Smaller drains and sewerage channels failed under the pressure: roads became streams, vehicles were submerged and residents were left bailing water from their homes. Days earlier, rainwater had entered the basement of Holy Family Hospital where the gynaecology and paediatrics departments are located. All this cannot be chalked up to exceptional rain. This is a story of a city repeatedly exposed by inadequate drainage, encroachments, poor waste management and development that pays little attention to the natural movement of water. The disruption also carries an economic cost, damaging vehicles and property, closing businesses and hitting daily-wage workers hardest.

The warnings were there well before this week’s downpour. In April, Wasa said a survey of Leh Nullah had identified 19 vulnerable points, while preparations were under way to clean the nullah and 11 major drains before the monsoon. The danger, therefore, was not unforeseeable. Climate change is making intense bursts of rain more likely, but it cannot become an alibi for civic failure. Rawalpindi sits downstream of a catchment extending into Islamabad; when heavy rain falls on increasingly built-up land, enormous volumes of run-off descend rapidly towards the city. That reality demands more than pumps, sirens and rescue teams once the water begins to rise. Drains must be kept clear throughout the year, encroachments removed, sewerage capacity expanded and new construction subjected to flood-risk scrutiny. Islamabad and Rawalpindi must plan the Leh basin as one hydrological system. Pakistan’s cities cannot stop the rain, but they can stop turning every cloudburst into a disaster. What Pindi needs is sustained urban governance, not another annual ritual of dredging, warnings and emergency response. Officials should also be answerable when known choke points remain neglected, drains are allowed to clog, or construction proceeds without regard for flood pathways and adequate urban drainage capacity.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2026