The overcast skies let loose heavy showers on the twin cities dumping more than 99mm of rain at some places on Tuesday.
The intermittent rain that continued for over 36 hours left many low-lying areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad inundated with knee-deep water, while thousands of people were left marooned on roads in inclement weather due to traffic jams caused by flooded roads.
In the federal capital, the rain began as a mild drizzle at night but intensified in the morning. Highest rainfall of the day was 99mm recorded at Sector H-8 Islamabad, 87mm at Shamsabad, 45mm at Saidpur and 34mm at Chaklala.
On the other hand, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast more rains with thunderstorms in different parts of the country, including Islamabad and Rawalpindi from Tuesday to Thursday this week. PMD has directed the concerned agencies to remain alert
The civic authorities were trying their best to prevent urban flood and divert rainwater to the natural waterways, locally called nullahs, that criss-cross the two cities.
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In Rawalpindi, the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) deployed heavy machinery to pump out water from the roads. Water had accumulated on the main thoroughfares highways and flooded the underpasses disrupting the traffic system.
People were seen pushing their vehicles out of waist deep water, cursing the authorities all the way.
Wasa Managing Director Shaukat Mahmood said he was monitoring the dewatering operation in the low-lying areas of Rawalpindi. He said the agency was fully prepared to deal with the situation. “There is no imminent threat of flood due to overflowing of Nullah Leh,” he said while replying to questions from the Express Tribune on telephone. However, Wasa was ready to handle any flood situation too, he said.
According to Wasa Spokesperson Umer Farooq, the agency has issued a high alert and deployed all of its men and machinery for dewatering operation.
Water under bridges
Thousands of people who had dared to venture out to work on a rainy day were caught by heavy downpour, which flooded the roads.
Commuters were left stuck in long queues of vehicles on Murree Road, Faizabad Interchange, Expressway, and Rawal Dam Road.
According to reports, rains in the twin cities exposed the performance of the civic agencies of the federal capital and the garrison town.
There was an overflow of traffic on Faizabad Bridge, long queues of vehicles were formed on the road to Shamsabad and although the Rawalpindi administration repeatedly informed the Islamabad administration about the traffic problems due to water under the Faizabad Bridge, help did not arrive till late in the evening.
Finally when the heavens took a pause, the city traffic police from Rawalpindi came to Faizabad and diverted vehicles to Shamsabad. However, due to the load on the Double Road, the traffic stopped again. Even after several hours, the traffic from Rawalpindi to the highway at Faizabad was diverted. Water could not be drained from the loop of the Faizabad Interchange till night.
When contacted by The Express Tribune, a spokesman of City Traffic Police Rawalpindi said that water had accumulated under Faizabad Bridge on Murree Road heading towards Islamabad causing traffic flow problems. He said the flow was diverted from Murree Road to Islamabad from Double Road.
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People said they covered a few minutes commute in hours due to lack of the authorities to handle the situation.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2020.
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