Stormy rain: Man killed in mud house collapse, family injured

Boy swept away by Leh, feared dead.

RAWALPINDI:

While for some, the rain and chilly winds provided the perfect excuse to enjoy winter treats, for others it was all doom and gloom as their homes proved to be no match for the elements.

An old man died after the roof of his mud house caved in following the daylong heavy downpour near Kohala at Chakri Road. “Muhammad Rasool, 70, died on the spot. His wife and two children received slight injuries in the incident, according to the police.

A 12-year-old was feared to have drowned in Nullah Leh near Fauji Colony. Rescue 1122 officials were searching for the boy till this story was filed. The boy was swept away because the nullah was overflowing with rainwater, said Rescue 1122.

The garrison city’s residents also had to contend with flooding in low-lying areas inundated by the heavy rains as well as unscheduled power outages.  An official of Water and Sanitation Agency WASA said the water level in Nullah Leh touched 10 feet in Gawalmandi while the alert point was 16 feet.

It is unprecedented during winter to have heavy rains causing flooding in low- lying areas surrounding Leh and parts of the old city.

WASA spokesperson Umer Farooq said residents of the low-lying areas had been alerted as the met office reported 75 millimetre (mm) rain was recorded in Rawalpindi and 91mm in Islamabad.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Chief Metrologist at Pakistan Metrology Department Ghulam Rasul said it would continue to rain for the next 24 hours in the capital.

“Thunderstorm, lightning and heavy rains are a result of convective weather patterns which occurs due to global warming and will result in increasing heat” explained Rasul. “Once the wet spell is over by the end of the week, movement of the wind from north to south and clear skies will result in a two to three degree drop in temperature.”

High pressure prevails with such weather conditions and there is a drop in temperature but the cold spell will only last till the end of February, he added.

Experts believe that the rainy spell is likely to bring good news for farmers across the country, as it is beneficial for rabbi crops especially wheat.

Additional input from Maha Mussaddaq in Islamabad

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2013.