LAHORE: A spell of torrential rain began in the upper parts of the country and northeast Punjab on Saturday, causing urban flooding, inundating villages and swelling major rivers and nullahs in the Sialkot region.
Two women in Pasrur villages died after the roof of their cattle-shed collapsed during the rain. Three people were injured in Lahore’s Kot Abdul Malik when the roof of their house caved in.
A child was killed and six people injured when the roof of their home collapsed in Shakargarh’s Tola village.
Upper catchments of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers received heavy to very heavy rain.
The Flood Forecasting Division warned of very high flood in Jhelum river at Mangla and high flood in the Chenab at Marala on Sunday.
Medium to high flooding is expected in hill torrents of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts and their surroundings.The spell of rain is being generated by a persistent westerly wave and incursion of a moist current from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
The Met office forecast more intense rain as the incursion of the moist current intensified on Saturday. It was reaching upper parts of the country up to 7,000ft.
The spell of rain is covering upper parts of the country and Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Lahore divisions.
Islamabad received the heaviest rain over the past 24 hours. The Met office recorded 217mm of rain in Saidpur.
Gujranwala received 134mm of rain, Sialkot airport 133mm, Rawalakot 97, Sialkot city 93, Gujrat 67, Jhelum 55, Mangla 46, Garhi Dupatta 43, Kotli 40, Islamabad Zero Point 34, Muzaffarabad 25, Murree and Chakwal 24, Lower Dir 23, Dir and Saidu Sharif 17, Mandi Bahauddin 16, Balakot 15, Kakul 12, Risalpur and Barkhan five and Bhakkar 2mm. Lahore received heavy rain at around noon which turned city streets into rivulets. Many low-lying localities were inundated and the city witnessed worst traffic jams during and after the rain which, otherwise, made the weather pleasant.
The maximum temperature was just 27 degrees Celsius as against the minimum 25 Celsius last night.
Teams of the city district government struggled to clear water from the low-lying areas like Lakshmi Chowk, Misri Shah and in front of the Qadhafi Stadium. But many places were still inundated till the evening.
Rainwater entered Nicholson Road’s Haji Camp and hampered its repair work.
By 5pm the local Met office had recorded 62mm of rain at the airport and 48mm at its Jail Road observatory.
It was heavily overcast in the evening and the Met office expected more heavy rain in the next 24 hours.
RISING RIVERS: The FFD said the water level in River Jhelum at Mangla was 100,000 cusecs and was expected to rise to 250,000 cusecs.
In the Chenab at Marala the level was 80,000 cusecs and expected to rise to 210,000 cusecs.
The Met office forecast widespread thundershowers, with gusty winds, of moderate to heavy intensity with very heavy intensity at isolated places over upper catchments of all the major rivers along with Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala and Lahore divisions and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Scattered thundershowers, with strong winds, of moderate intensity may occur over Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions. Isolated thundershowers, with strong winds, are likely in Kalat, Sibi, Naseerabad and Zhob divisions, lower Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Nullahs of the Ravi and Chenab may attain medium to very high flood levels.
Our Sialkot correspondent adds: Farzana Bibi, 37, was killed and her sister-in-law Saleema Bibi injured as the roof of their muddy cattle shed collapsed on them during heavy rain early in the morning in village Darwaal-Sabzpeer, Pasrur. The women were milking cattle. The injured was admitted to the Pasrur THQ Civil Hospital, Sialkot, in a critical condition
As many as 21 villages of Pasrur were inundated after high flood in Nullah Dek. It overflowed near Chahoor village, inundating Jabbokey, Nawaadhey, Chahoor, Machchaana, Eispur, Seehowal, Mehtabpur, Hunjali, Qila, Kaka Pan, Punj Graayien Bajwa, Sojowali and Saarh Fataah.
The level of the nullah was 26,500 cusecs near village Mehtabpur-Hunjali.
The floodwater also damaged crops over a vast tract of land in Pasrur.
The water level in the rivers Chenab, Jammu Munaawar and Tavi and Nullahs Aik, Dek, Palkhu and Bhed was also rising because of heavy rain in Sialkot and the neighbouring Jammu.
The water level in Nullah Aik near Oora, Sialkot, was 20,000 cusecs.