At least seven people were killed in Lahore on Wednesday as “record-breaking” rain lashed the city, causing urban flooding and damage to infrastructure.
According to Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the deaths took place due to roof collapses, drowning and electrocution.
He said Lahore had received “record” rainfall of 291 millimetres today, which the interim CM claimed was unexpected.
Earlier, talking to media persons on a tour to different parts of the city, Naqvi said, “We have dispatched teams across the city to clear main roads and drain water from submerged areas.”
Naqvi said areas such as Muslim Town, Garden Town and Gulberg were majorly inundated due to the overflow of water from the Lahore Canal.
He further stated that another spell of rain was expected to hit the city at 9pm and the authorities were preparing for that, adding that he was monitoring the efforts himself.
Latest figures released by the Water And Sanitation Agency (Wasa) showed that more than 200 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in parts of the city over the last 10 hours.
This image shows the amount of rainfall recorded in Lahore since 3:55am.
The data showed that the highest amount of rainfall (291mm) was recorded in Lakshmi Chowk, followed by 277mm in Nishter Town and 270mm in Qurtaba Chowk.
Separately, Gulshan-i-Ravi recorded 268mm, Pani Wala Talab 268mm, Johar Town 260mm, Tajpura 249mm, Farrukhabad 237mm, Iqbal Town 232mm, Mughalpura 215mm, Wasa head office in Gulberg 208mm, Chowk Nakhuda 205mm, Upper Mall 192mm, Samanabad 178mm, Jail Road 145mm and Airport 127mm.
Wasa Managing Director Gufran Ahmed said rainwater across the city would be drained within three to four hours, adding that all the disposal systems were being run at the optimum capacity.
Separately, Lahore Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa said that such a large amount of rainfall in such a short amount of time had not been received for the past 30 years. He said that last year 238mm of rainfall was recorded while 288mm was received in 2018.
Meanwhile, the Met Office has said the showers are expected to continue intermittently in Lahore for the next 24 hours.
