Heavy downpour swamps Lahore

LAHORE:

The roads and streets of the provincial capital remained inundated after heavy downpour lashed the metropolis for the second consecutive day. Massive traffic jams and power outages were also witnessed across the city.

Pools of knee-deep water were witnessed in low-lying areas of the city including Band Road, Outfall Road, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Lakshmi Chowk, Haji Camp, Ichhra and other parts of the provincial capital.

The routine life of the citizens was disturbed as the continuous rain lashed the city for hours. In many areas water also entered houses.

The commuters also witnessed huge trouble in travelling as long queues of vehicles were seen on almost every major artery of the city. Vehicles remained stuck in traffic for hours. Honking horns and bumper-to-bumper traffic marred the city life. A few incidents of falling of trees and electric poles were also reported from around the city.

All these factors lead to further obstructions in the flow of traffic.

To deal with the issue, the City Traffic Police Lahore (CTPL) officials responded to the situation and an additional number of wardens was deployed for the purpose.

CTO Syed Hammad Abid and the Lahore commissioner set out on a visit of different areas of the city to inspect the drainage of the water after the rains. They inspected drainage and traffic flow at Lakshmi Chowk, Mall Road, Railway Station and Allama Iqbal Road. The officials directed the DSPs to take effective measures on busy and slanting highways and keep in touch with the WASA administration for drainage.

Hammad Abid said the roads were under traffic pressure due to rainwater. Roads around Lakshmi Chowk, Napier Chowk, Etherton Chowk, Durand Chowk, Davis Chowk, Askari 9, Saddar, Church Chowk, Aik Moriya, Kashmiri Gate, Shimla Hill, Mughal Chowk, and Taj Bagh Chowk were also inundated with rainwater. Citizens were urged to drive carefully with reasonable speed and distance. The Lahore CTO directed the on-duty wardens to ensure a smooth flow of traffic regardless of the weather. Citizens should not face any traffic problems, he added.

Zeeshan Ahmad, 35, who lives near Faizpur Interchange and works near Shimla Pahadi, has to travel around 25 kilometres to reach his destination. The route involved passing through congested as well as busiest roads and one important entry point of the city, Saggian Bridge or Shahdara Morr.

He said that on normal days, it takes him over an hour to reach his destination. However, due to the rain, it took him over three hours to reach his workplace.

The road from Al Rehman Garden to Saggian Chowk is already in a dilapidated condition. There was knee-deep rainwater and the traffic had been moving at a snail-paced speed. Besides, many vehicles were stuck, a few damaged due to the poor condition of the road and the rainwater.

Akhtar Bashir, a resident of Ittefaq Town near Mansoora, travels to Ichra for work. He said in normal times it takes him 40-45 minutes to reach the destination. However, on Thursday it took over two hours. Traffic jam was reported at several points.

The incidents of minor skirmishes and altercation between people were also reported amid the traffic jams. Minor incidents like slipping of motorcycles and ramming of bumpers were also reported.

In an incident of electrocution, a 12-year-old boy lost his life in Gulshan-e-Ravi area. He had just come out of his house to go to a playground when he suffered an electric shock reportedly from a pole over a roadside food stall on the footpath.

In another incident, four buffaloes of a villager died due to electrocution.

Power outage was also reported in different parts of the city due to the heavy rain as many feeders tripped. Reportedly, 30% electricity shortfall occurred after the rain.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2020.