Monsoon downpour inundates many areas

Low-lying areas in Rawalpindi were flooded as clogged nullahs of the city overflowed in first monsoon downpour

RAWALPINDI: A number of low-lying areas in Rawalpindi were flooded as clogged nullahs of the city overflowed in the first downpour of monsoon on Saturday morning.

Rainwater inundated many areas including Akbar Chowk, Sheikhupura Road, Millat Chowk, Sialvi Road, General Hospital Samanabad area, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Office area, Sargodha Road, Gate Chowk Sitiana Road, D-Type Colony, Allama Iqbal Colony, Madina Town, and Abdullahpur Bridge.

Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director (MD) Faqeer Muhammad Chaudhry visited various parts of the city to inspect the capacity of disposal stations to pump out rainwater. He expressed satisfaction on working of Wasa’s disposal stations and said that the stagnant rainwater had been pumped out with the help of pumps running on generators.

According to the sources, after first downpour of monsoon season, WASA has prepared duty schedule of field staff along with finalising plan for dewatering of low-lying areas.

However, the areas of cantonment boards remain inundated as no operation to pump out rainwater was conducted there. The water flowed down to sewerage lines within hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2019.