A 14-year-old boy was killed in a lightning strike in Ward-27, Gujar Khan, after a powerful thunderstorm coupled with heavy rain ripped through the Rawalpindi region early on Sunday morning.
According to Rescue 1122 officials, the teenage boy, Moin, who was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital, was playing in the yard of his house before he was struck by lightning.
While family members were shifting the boy to the hospital in a rickshaw when Rescue 1122 teams reached the spot and gave first aid before shifting him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. According to Rescue 1122 officials, locals also sprinkled soil on the boy for 20 minutes to defuse the effect of lightning but all in vain.
Meanwhile, a heavy downpour lashed Rawalpindi and Islamabad, inundating several low-lying areas and roads in the twin cities. As a result of the accumulation of rainwater on roads, traffic flow remained disrupted on Rawalpindi roads.
It started raining with thunder and lightning at 7 am on Sunday in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and surroundings and lasted for hours.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, the highest of 36 millimetres rainfall was recorded at Chaklala and Golra till 11 am, followed by 22mm at Bokra-22, 24mm at Syedpur and 20 mm in Islamabad’s Sector H-8.
Due to the rain, water also accumulated on Murree Road, Jhelum Road, Sawan Pul and GT Road in Rawalpindi, disrupting the traffic flow.
Earlier, the National Flood Response Coordination Centre (NFRCC) warned that rainfalls may trigger landslides in the country's upper parts including in Murree in the next 24 hours.
The NFRCC weather forecast predicted rain, wind and thundershowers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Islamabad, upper Punjab, Southeastern Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). It warned that rainfalls may trigger landslides in AJK, hilly areas of K-P, G-B, Galiyat and Murree.
Meanwhile, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Rawalpindi has put the sanitation staff on alert particularly to prevent water logging in low-lying areas. According to a WASA spokesman, the agency has put the staff on high alert to cope with urban flooding following intermittent rains.
He said that the WASA has mobilised heavy machinery to low-lying areas to provide quick response in case of an emergency. He said that the agency was continuously monitoring the water level in Nullah Leh. He said that the WASA’s sanitation staff was in the field, especially in low-lying areas.
He said that the WASA staff deployed in low-lying areas was well equipped with water-sucking machines. WASA teams have been deployed on Airport Road, Committee Chowk underpass, Liaquat Bagh, Javed Colony, Dhoke Khabba, Sadiqabad, Satellite Town, Jamia Masjid Road, Murree Road and other low-lying areas, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2022.
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