Déjà vu: Heavy rains inundate Sargodha

Teenager dies of electric shock, truck overturns as one of its tyres is caught in an under-construction sewer.

FAISALABAD/ SARGODHA/ BHAKKAR:

Heavy rains on Saturday night and Sunday morning left most of the major roads and residential areas of Sargodha inundated.

A teenager died from an electric shock suffered on contact with a shutter at his shop in Urdu Bazaar during the rain. In another incident, a truck overturned at Khayam Chowk after one of its tyres got caught in an under construction sewer. There were no casualties. Fire erupted in an electric power transformer during the rain in Mohammadi Colony.

Tehsil municipal administration officials were still draining water from major roads and streets when the report was filed.

Town Municipal Officer Jarrar Abbas, in charge of the draining operation, said water would be drained from all affected areas by Monday morning.

The affected areas were Company Bagh, TMA Office Road, Military Farm Road, Old Patha Mandi Road, Maqam Hayat Road, Tariqabad, 29 Block, Hussain Park, Nawab Colony, Lalazar, Farooq Colony, Chak 47, Khayam Chowk and City Road.

Heavy rain started in the city at about 5pm on Saturday and continued with brief pauses till 6am on Sunday.

In Bhakkar, the downpour destroyed a recently-built road linking a model village established for flood-affected families to Darya Khan. The model village is to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif this week.

Rain water near a pedestrian bridge on the road flooded streets in a nearby low-lying settlement Londi Nasheeb. Residents complained that there houses were inundated with water flowing from the bridge.

Darya Khan tehsil municipal administrator said he was unaware of any flooding in Londi Nasheeb area or the damage to the road linking the model village to the tehsil.

He said he was overseeing operations to drain water from affected areas of the Darya Khan, which were Mohalla Imdad House, Mohalla Baitul Mukarram, Mohalla Khan Khuda Bakhsh, Mohalla Gulzar Madina Masjid, Mohalla Farooqabad, Main Bazaar, Furniture Market, Wheat Market, Sabzi Mandi, Dilwala Road and Dera Road.

The town administrator said he had left the field operations only for a couple hours to attend a meeting to review arrangements for the chief minister’s visit to inaugurate the model village.

Heavy rain had started in Darya Khan at 2am on Sunday. It continued for over an hour. A light drizzle continued till the afternoon.

A building on Dera Road and boundary wall of a house on Gorokot Road collapsed during the rain. However, there were no casualties.

Power remained suspended in the tehsil for over 10 hours on Sunday morning.

43.5 millimetres of rain in Faisalabad

Faisalabad also received its first spell of monsoon rains on Sunday.

The metrological office recorded 43.5 millimetre rainfall in the city, the temperature decreased by several degrees Celsius to 38.5C.

The low-lying areas of the city remained inundated with rain water for most part of the day. Work was underway to drain water in several areas by the time the report was filed.

Heavy rains started at 5am and continued till 11am.

More rain along with dust and thunderstorms are expected on Monday.

With additional reporting from Shamsul Islam

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2012.