Welcome, monsoon

Although torrential rain in the city made the weather extremely pleasant on Friday but standing water proved to be quite frustrating for citizens.
Posh areas and main roads of the city presented the look of swimming pools, as 60 millimetres of rain were recorded. Rain started on early Friday morning and continued for more than seven hours. Continuous power outages added insult to injury while standing rainwater at various roads created extreme difficulties for citizens, including motorcyclists, who reached their offices late.
Various areas of the city were submerged in rainwater including Sandha, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Allama Iqbal Town, the Walled City, Faisal Town, Qaddafi Stadium, Shahdara, Mozang, Davis Road, Lakshmi Chowk and others. Traffic jams were also witnessed due to standing water in different parts of the city. Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Managing Director (MD) Javed Iqbal also visited various places of the city, including Qaddafi Stadium, to monitor the situation. He said that although Qaddafi Stadium was not under WASA’s jurisdiction, but still the department was trying to drain out the water as soon as possible.
Students going to varsities also faced problems, as it was the last day before summer vacations at the Punjab University (PU). Residents of Model Town and Garden Town claimed that they were facing immense difficulties due to construction of the Kalma Chowk Flyover and sewerage work in the area and rain was adding fuel to fire. A Model Town resident said that the Punjab government should have completed the work before monsoon, as now their problems had increased.
Businessman Umer said that he was not able to reach home on time. He said that riding a motorcycle under these circumstances was not easy and everybody could not afford a car. Umer said that roads were giving the look of flooded areas. Citizens also slammed WASA officials for their inability to drain out the water on time. They said that standing water could also cause various diseases to residents of that particular area but the authorities concerned were reluctant to take sufficient measures.
Citizens claimed that the city’s situation was deplorable and high-ups were not taking it seriously. They stayed away from rainwater in order to avoid electricity current but still a young boy lost his life in Shahdara. The maximum temperature recorded on Friday in Lahore was 28 degrees Celsius whereas minimum temperature was 21 degrees Celsius. Forecast of more rains has frightened citizens but they hoped for better arrangements in days to come.
WASA claimed that it has 450 de-watering pumps and unavailability of proper drains was not solving the problem, as most of the drains have been encroached by land grabbers. Rain with thunderstorms also hit Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Hazara and Malakand divisions while isolated rain and thunderstorms were witnessed in Kohat and DI Khan.
The Met Office informed that scattered rain with dust and thunderstorms is expected with isolated heavy rain in AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, DG Khan, Rahimyar Khan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat and DI Khan.