Incessant downpour in Lahore breaks all rain records: Punjab CM

LAHORE: Incessant downpour in Lahore for last eight hours has broken all records, Punjab Chief Minister on Wednesday said in his social media statement.

“It is a situation of urban flooding on Lahore’s roads as the canal has also been overflowing,” CM Mohsin Naqvi said in a tweet.

“Provincial cabinet and entire administration have been on roads to ensure drainage of the rainwater,” Naqvi further stated. “I am personally monitoring the relief activities and in contact with the administration,” he added.

The water submerged the low-lying areas and entered in houses and offices in continuous heavy rainfall for nine hours in historic Lahore. City’s Gulbarg and Canal Road areas submerged in rainwater.

The city has received record 291 mm rainfall in continuous downpour for 10 hours breaking a 30-year-old record of rain in the city.

“The city had received 256mm rainfall in previous rain spell this year on June 26, while 238mm rain last year,” Commissioner Lahore Ali Randhawa has said. “Lahore had received 288mm rainfall in year 2018.”

“In last 30 years, Lahore has not witnessed such an intense rainfall in a minimum time span,” city official observed.

MD WASA Ghufran Ahmed has said that the water will be drained out of the low-lying areas of city within few hours as the rain will halt. “The system striving to drain out the rainwater with its full capacity,” he added.

Earlier report said that strong winds with heavy rain wreaked havoc in different parts of the city with several low-lying areas inundated.

Rain caused disruption of electricity in parts of Lahore as more than 200 feeders of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) tripped, plunging various parts of the city into darkness.