Lahore Engulfed: Unprecedented Monsoon Downpour Wreaks Havoc

Lahore was immersed in water at Thursday when what was claimed to be the heaviest monsoon rain in the years poured itself over the city. In the three hours, a record rainfall of 350 millimeters was recorded erasing a record that was set 44 years ago. The rain was heavy, this resulted to water logging destroying people’s activities for the day and even resulting to black out.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), sole reason was due to the heavy monsoon current from the Arabian sea and bay of Bengal. The department predicted the heavy rains to begin on the upper areas of the country from 1st August to 6 with some gaps in between.

Infrastructure of Lahore was not designed for this kind of rain and it became clear from the problems faced by people. Declaring the city submerged, one<|reserved_special_token_260|> said, “Mall Road, Ferozepur Road, Model Town, Faisal Town, Lakshmi Chowk and Anarkali markets filled up”. The low-laying populated areas including Tajpura were majorly affected; people reported rainwater intrusion into their houses. Basic services such as health were not spared as the Services Hospital claimed that there was flooding within the hospital that affected both the patients and the staff of the hospital.

According to LESCO record, substantially load shed occurred in Lahore where as 288 feeders tripped due to heavy rainfall. This led to the black out in many parts of the city. LESCO appealed to the consumers to be patient as their teams continued working hard to provide electricity.

In order to highlight the intensity of the rainfall, the following breakdown of the rain that was received across the Lahore city has been analyzed. Out of all the regions monitored, Lahore Airport recorded the maximum rainfall, 337 mm second was Pani Wala Talab 203 mm followed by Lakshmi Chowk 191mm, Upper Mall 182mm, Mughalpura 173mm, Tajpura 180mm, Nishtar Town 227mm, Chowk Nakhuda 163mm.

The city is recovering from a terrible downpour that has left the city; This article outlines activities that are being undertaken to try and recover from the disaster.