No respite: Three die in rain aftermath

Residents of Samanabad demand rain water be drained from their streets

FAISALABAD: Three people died and seven were injured in rain-related accidents in Faisalabad district on Monday-Tuesday. The rainfall was recorded at 20mm.

Heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and a windstorm hit the district on Monday night causing several roof collapses, uprooting many trees and snapping several electricity wires.

The rain storm also disrupted the electricity supply to various localities and inundated low-lying areas including Samanabad, Ghulam Muhammad Abad, Mansoor Abad, Waris Pura, Hajji Abad, Gulistan Colony, Muslim Town and their adjoining neighbourhoods. The residents of these areas complained that the WASA did not have the capacity to drain water from these neighbourhoods.

Rescue-1122 officials told journalists that a house in Street 4, Maryam Abad, near Tezab Mill Chowk had collapsed on Monday night. Ten-year-old Nadia had received serious injuries and died before she could be treated and 50-year-old Riaz was taken to a hospital for treatment. They said the roof of a restaurant on Jhang Road near Sabzi Mandi Saddar had caved in due to heavy rain killing 24-year-old Nadeem. The Rescue-1122 officials said 14-year-old Adeel and 23-year-old Wakeel were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The roof of a house near Faizabad Bridge collapsed and 32-year-old Billa, son of Qutub Din, was badly injured. The officials said another house near Jaranwala Last Stop collapsed because of the rain killing 22-year-old Shamsa and 25-year-old Imran.

They said 45-year-old Rehana received critical injuries when the roof of her house caved in due to rains near Bukhari Chowk in D-Type Colony.   Police said that a woman died from an electric shock on Tuesday after accidently touching a wire that had broken away from a power line in Chak 550-GB. Police said the wire had broken away because of the thunderstorm. Kaneez Bibi, 35, was on her way to the fields she worked in when she accidently touched a live wire. She died before she could be treated. Police said they had handed her body over to her family after completing legal formalities.

Residents protest

Scores of residents of Samanabad and adjoining localities staged a demonstration against the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) on Tuesday over the agency’s failure to drain out rain water. The water had pooled up in various low-lying neighbourhoods following heavy rain showers on Monday.

The demonstrators held up banners and placards and gathered on Sammundri Road where they later held a protest sit-in. They blocked the road for traffic by burning old tyres and set up blockades.

Talking to journalists, Akram Ali, one of the protesters, said there had been heavy rainfall in the area on Monday night. The rain water had inundated the streets and bazaars causing the gutters to over flow. “We’ve called the WASA several times asking them to pump out the rainwater in the streets and bazaars of Samanabad but no one has bothered to respond to our calls.”

Another protester said that most people had found themselves stranded in their homes because the streets were full of rainwater mixed with sewage. “No one wants to wade in filth and get sewage all over their clothes,” he said.

Another protester said that several houses in low-lying streets had found rainwater from the streets pooling in their homes. “This is a hotbed for all kinds of illnesses and we want the water drained as soon as possible.”

The demonstrators shouted slogans against the WASA and demanded immediate action. They said the WASA’s attitude toward them was deplorable and demanded strict action against the officials who, they claimed, had been ignoring their calls. A contingent from the Samanabad police station arrived at the scene and discussed the matter with the protesters. They told them that they would call up the WASA and also take up the matter with higher authorities. The protesters then called off the demonstration and dispersed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2016.