Light rain tests Wasa’s claims

The limits of the city’s drainage system were once again exposed by a rain spell lasting less than than 20 minutes.

LAHORE:

The limits of the city’s drainage system were once again exposed on Saturday by a rain spell that did not last for more than 20 minutes.

Traffic slowed down to a creeping flow for a good part of the day. The Water and Sanitation Agency’s (WASA) trucks remained busy draining rainwater from trouble spots on the main roads but could not prevent traffic jams on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, Garden Town, Model Town Link Road, Cavalry Ground and Shadman.

The Metrological Department forecast partly cloudy weather with chances of thunderstorms in the next 24 hours.

According to the Met Office, 30 mm rain was recorded at Shadman, 13 mm at Lahore Airport, 30 mm at The Mall and 16 mm at Shahdara.

The weather was humid in the morning but turned pleasant after the rain. Unlike Friday, almost all parts of the city received continuous rain on Saturday.

The maximum temperature remained 32 degrees celsius and the minimum 26. Relative humidity was 85 per cent at noon.

Traffic problems were intensified as it was the last weekend before Eid and people had headed out for shopping. This seemed to have caught the traffic police unaware.

Traffic jams in some places caused wardens from other roads to be summoned there. This caused secondary jams in new places.

“It took me 20 minutes to pass through a half-kilometre stretch on the Model Town Link Road,” said a motorist, Zia Naqvi. He added that most roads in his way down town were packed with cars causing him to be late at an important appointment.

Usman Tariq, a driver at the Gulberg’s Main Boluvard, criticised the WASA officials for ineffiency.

“Sometimes they don’t come out at all. When they do, it takes them hours to drain water,” he said.

A WASA spokesperson, however, said that they had worked well within their resources and cleared water from most roads within two hours of the rain.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2010.