RAWALPINDI, Aug 9: The rains poured and the winds roared, bringing with it consequences which can be categorized in the good, the bad and the ugly.
The biggest reprieve was in the form of pleasant weather. Residents breathed a sigh of relief, when temperatures fell.
The early morning rain and evening’s heavy shower brought the mercury down to 33 Celsius from 41 Celsius.
The Met Department recorded 74 millimeter (mm) of rainfall in Islamabad and 30 mm in Rawalpindi, and forecasted a heavy spell of rain in the twin cities, during the next 24 hours.
“The catchments area of Rawal and Simly dams received a good spell of rain and it will increase the water level in the dams. Murree also received heavy rainfall and its rain water will discharge in Rawal Dam,” said Met official. Which means water to the taps — as complaints of water shortage would die a natural death — and to the national grid for power generation.
But there was some negative news as well. A road accident occurred at Soan River Bridge, near Lahore High Court (LHC) as a car plunged into a river bed, injuring a woman and a driver.
The driver failed to control the vehicle and fell into Soan River from an open place between the dual carriage-way bridge.
Soon after the accident, rescuers arrived at the spot and rushed the injured to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, where the condition of the woman was critical.According to the Meteorological department, gusty winds blew at the speed of 74 kilometre per hour but 111 kilometre per hour was recorded in Rawalpindi and adjoining areas.
Winds knocked down trees and blew away billboards at Airport Road, Jhelum Road, Westridge, Adiala Road, Peshawar Road and other areas but no one was reported injured.
Due to the winds, the flight operation was disturbed at Benazir Bhutto International Airport but Civil Aviation Authorities promptly came into action and successfully diverted two flights from Karachi to Islamabad to Lahore. All the passengers reached Lahore safely.
The airport management also made extra arrangements to make the runway safe for the smooth landing of flights.
Low-lying areas of the city went underwater but only a few compound walls at a Defence Housing Authority (DHA) were damaged.
There was damage to a few roads but dubious construction practices are to be blamed as some of the roads had been re-laid only recently.
Adiala Road, constructed two months back was partially damaged due to accumulation of rainwater.
District Officer Solid Waste Management, Dr Mazhar Azeem shared some positive news with Dawn that due to proper de-silting of nullahs and drains of the city before the monsoon, the rainwater did not accumulate in low-lying areas in the city.
He said that the water level in Leh Nullah was recorded three feet at New Kattarian and at Gowalmandi.
However, he admitted inundation of downtown area and said that the area was inundated with rainwater due to a choked sewerage system.
He said that the sewerage system in the city was old and outdated and needed replacement. With an updated sewerage system, suchincidents would not occur in the future.