MULTAN, June 20: As the summer-stricken public warmly welcomed the pre-monsoon rain in Multan on Wednesday, submerged roads and streets show civic departments were hardly ready for the much-awaited rain.

The 14 mm pre-monsoon rain brought down the mercury considerably in Multan and other cities of the south Punjab.

On Wednesday, the maximum temperature in Multan was 34.7 degrees Celsius as compared to the 48 degrees Celsius on June 9. The minimum temperature was 22 degrees Celsius.

The other cities receiving rain are: Bahawalnagar (65 mm), Sahiwal (14 mm) and Bahawalpur (11 mm).

The rain, however, exposed the tall claims of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) of removal of accumulated rainwater. Roads in Writers Colony, Kaati Maar Road, Delhi Gate, Shareefpura, Manzoorabad, Husain Aagahi Road, Purana Khanewal Adda, Mohallah Ali Ahmed Wala, Chowk Shah Abbas, Shaheen Market, Khaji Mohallah, Chowk Shaheedan, Mumtazabad, Pak Gate, Khooni Burj, Nawan Shahr, Pul Sotari Watt, Kotla Tolay Khan and Freedabad were inundated with rainwater. Citizens demanded the authorities solve their problems.

Faheem Mushtaq, a resident of Tariqabad, said poor drainage of rainwater in underprivileged localities was understandable but Gulgasht Colony, considered to be a posh locality, was also awash with rainwater. “Whenever it rains, it washes out the affluent localities’ make-up,” he said.

APP adds: A woman was killed and four others injured in different parts of the city in rain-related incidents.

The roof of the house of Amir Hameed collapsed at Lohari Gate Alang due to rain. As a result his sister Sanober, 22, suffered injuries. She breathed her last while on way to hospital. Nishtar hospital doctors said four children injured in separate rain-related incidents, were brought to the hospital. A woman doctor at ward No 3 said Amna, three, Waqar Ahmad, eight, Shamsa, nine, and Abdur Rehman, eight, were brought to the hospital for treatment.