Heavy Rainfall, Lahore Turns into “City of Streams”

LAHORE: MONSOON on Friday in the City inundated low-lying areas and turned many roads, streets and markets into streams as Water and Sanitation Agency and Town Municipal Administrations failed to drain out rainwater.

Heavy rain hit Lahore and its suburbs which gave relief to the citizens from hot and humid weather. However, rainwater accumulated in the low-lying area while heavy showers also created traffic problems in the City as roads submerged under water after the rain.

The heavy rain in the provincial metropolis created pools of water on City roads after WASA officials failed to drain out the rainwater due to which worst traffic jams were witnessed on almost every major road particularly on Cavalry Ground Road, Defence Boulevard Road, Railway Road, Circular Road and at Lakshami Chowk. Most streets in these localities were inundated with rainwater exposing the planning of the Wasa and Lahore district government departments. The major business centres and commercial areas too witnessed a high level of inconvenience as the traffic also remained stuck there due to the rain.

Samanabad drain once again overflowed due to the heavy rain after which the rainwater entered into various residential areas adjacent to the drai, including Islamia Park, Rasool Park, Chuburgi, Chuburgi Quarters, Ariya Nagar, Postal Colony and parts of Gulshan Ravi.

A large number of houses in Samanabad, Gulshan Ravi and Postal Colony were waterlogged. The situation was no different in the areas like Shahdbagh, Badami Bagh, Wasanpura, Misri Shah, Goal Bagh and Sham Nagar in the northern part of the City and the residents were witnessed throwing rainwater out of their houses with buckets.

The residents of Iqbal Town, Badar Block, Hamza Block and Huma Block, Shadman Colony, Wahdat Colony, Naqsha Stop, New Mozang, Shabab Chowk, New Muslim Town, Model Town and Garden Town areas were the most affected by the rain as the Wasa officials failed to dispose of water from these areas. Almost all the parks situated in various housing societies were inundated with water as Wasa and PHA had not installed pumps in these parks to drain out the water. Residents of various localities said that rainwater remained in the area parks for many weeks just because of the negligence of the departments concerned.

However, the officials of the departments said that they did have enough resources and funds to install pumps at all the local parks of the housing societies.

Nishter Sports Complex, Neelam Cinema Chowk, Gawalmandi Chowk, Garhi Shahu Chowk, Davis Road, China Chowk, Lakshami Chowk, Railway Station, Shadbagh, Misri Shahd, Neela Gumbad Chowk, Kashmir Road, GPO Chowk, Chauburji, Samanabad, Sultanpura, Mughalpura, Shahdara, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Township, Faisal Town, Green Town, Garden Town, Gulberg, Cantonment, Ghazi Road, Kahna, Mozang, Saadi Park, Anarkali, Walled City, Brandreth Road and Naulakha were among the most affected localities.

Akbari Mandi, Delhi Gate, Shah Alam market were worst hit by the Friday’s rain as the rainwater entered into basements of various shopping plazas.

The major business centres and commercial areas witnessed a high level of inconvenience as the traffic remained jam besides the rainwater also entered into the basements of many plazas. .

Talking to The News, Wasa Managing Director Javed Iqbal said that Wasa employed all its resources as soon as the rain started but in case of heavy rain, it took long time to drain out rainwater from all parts of the City. He claimed that rainwater from most of the City major parts had been drained out.