Rain exacerbates power supply woes

More rainfall forecast in upper Punjab with dense fog in south

LAHORE:

Scattered rains in Lahore and other parts of the province resulted in a further drop in the mercury level on Tuesday, while dozens of electric feeders went offline and prolonged shortage of natural gas aggravated the problems of citizens.

The rain also caused several accidents, including a lightning strike charring two cars in a shed at the engineering workshop of the Agriculture University in Faisalabad.

The cars parked for repairs caught fire due to the lightning strike and were destroyed before the fire brigade and Rescue 1122 doused it.

Citizens from several areas complained about frequent power failures owing to rains and non-availability of gas supply in their neighbourhoods.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a resident of the provincial capital, Muhammad Irfan Malik, said it was very unfortunate that in the summer the citizens had to face prolonged power outages and in winter there was no gas in stoves. “A little rain exposes the performance of utility companies.”

He said the policymakers and the government had failed to prepare plans to deal with such situations. “Several governments have changed but still we are facing shortage of basic necessities owing to poor planning and negligence of decision makers,” he lamented.

Complaints of electric and gas supply disruption were received from the Township, Johar Town, Faisal Town, Shadman, Kot Lakhpat, Green Town, Garden Town, Baghbanpura, China Scheme, Amir Town, Misri Shah, Bahria Town, Sabzazar and adjoining areas.

Meanwhile, a report issued by the National Weather Forecasting Centre indicated that the people of the region might have to face the difficulties for a few more days as a strong westerly wave was present over upper parts of the country and likely to persist for the next 24 hours. Moist currents from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are reaching northeastern parts of the country.

Heavy downpour in Lahore and other parts of the province caused devastating damage as two cars among other property were struck by thunder in Faisalabad. PHOTOS: EXPRESS/PPI

The weather report showed that rain and thunderstorm with snowfall over hills and hailstorm at a few places was recorded in upper and central Punjab along with upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.

It forecast rain with thunderstorm and snowfall over hills in Gilgit-Baltistan, northeastern Punjab, Kashmir and adjoining areas on Wednesday.

Isolated heavy rainfall is likely in northeastern Punjab, Pothohar region and Kashmir. Snowfall is also expected in Murree and the Galiyat.

Dense fog is likely in south Punjab and upper Sindh, while cold and dry weather is expected elsewhere in the country.

Gujrat received the highest rainfall of 80mm, followed by Hafizabad with 61mm, Mandi Bahauddin 58, Faisalabad and Jhelum 56mm, Mangla 51mm, Murree 36mm, Lahore airport 34mm and city 8mm, Gujranwala 27mm, Sahiwal 24mm, Sialkot city 19mm and airport 18mm, Okara 19mm, Bahawalnagar 14mm, Chakwal 13mm, Rawalpindi 9mm, Kasur 8mm, Narowal 7mm, Toba Tek Singh 6mm, Jhang 2mm and Joharabad 1mm.

In the federal capital, 14mm of rain was recorded at Golra, 12mm at Saidpur, 11mm at Zero Point and 7mm at airport. In Azad Kashmir, Kotli received 65mm of rain, Garhi Dupatta 49mm, Muzaffarabad 38mm and Rawalakot 32mm. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Kakul recorded 26mm of rain, Balakot 21mm, Malam Jabba 15mm, Saidu Sharif 5mm, Dir Upper 3mm, Takht Bai 2mm and Bannu 1mm. In Gilgit-Baltistan, Astore received 10mm of rain, Gupis 4mm, and Skardu and Chillas 2mm.

Malam Jabba received five inched of snowfall and Murree two inches. Traces of snowfall were recorded in Astore, Kalam and Skardu.

Tuesday’s lowest minimum temperature’ was recorded in Gupis at -11 degrees, Leh -10°C, Skardu, Quetta, Kalat and Astore -7°C, Bagrote, Kalam and Parachinar -6°C and Dalbandin -5°C.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2021.