Rain returns: Weather turns pleasant after showers lash twin cities

Due to the rain, many low-laying areas in Rawalpindi inundated.

ISLAMABAD:

The weather turned pleasant on Sunday after intense rains lashed Rawalpindi and Islamabad late on Saturday night, causing brief episodes of flash flooding in the twin cities’ low-lying areas.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) recorded 64 millimetres (mm) of rain at Shamsabad in Rawalpindi overnight. Islamabad received 49mm and 35mm of recorded rain at Zero Point and Saidpur respectively by 10am on Sunday.

The rain started in parts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi at around 7pm on Saturday but picked up pace within a couple of hours. Between 9pm and 10pm, heavy rain lashed various parts of the twin cities.

Ankle-deep water accumulated on roads in the capital, roadside drains on the Expressway were filled to the brink and low-lying residential areas in Rawalpindi suffered minor incidents of flash flooding.

Patches of Rawal Road near Sherpao Colony and streets in Sadiqabad, Dhoke Khabba, Arya Mohalla, Nadeem Colony and Javed Colony were inundated for a few hours.

Khalid Mehmood, a resident of Rawalpindi’s Dhoke Khabba area, said they spent the night anxious and worried that water might enter their homes. The area was partially damaged during the rains on August 13 after a nearby stream which drains into Nullah Leh, overflowed.

“People have barely started rebuilding homes and shops which were damaged in the earlier flooding, so the idea of more rain is scary,” Mehmood said. “My own shop suffered losses of around Rs20,000.”

Fortunately, the rain did not last long enough to cause significant damage in Dhoke Khabba again.

Water did not enter homes in Chaklala Scheme III — one of Rawalpindi’s more posh localities — but roads in the residential area were flooded in knee-deep water on Saturday night.

Flooding on the main road caused motorists to take alternative routes and created an artificial traffic jam, with some cars getting stuck in the standing water in streets 4 and 6.

Muhammad Imran, a resident of Scheme III, said flash flooding on the main road had become a regular feature.

“The authorities have turned a blind eye toward the flooding problem,” Imran said. “If this is the case in posh areas, what can one expect in poor neighbourhoods along Nullah Leh?”

After the rain ended at around midnight on Saturday, the water in the area receded within a few hours.

The water level in Nullah Leh rose initially on Saturday night but was far from the danger level, according to Rawalpindi’s Flood Control Cell.

Rawal Dam Sub-divisional Officer Bilal Rana said the dam’s spillways were not opened on Saturday night or Sunday morning. However, he said the dam’s current water level is only six inches short of the 1,752-foot mark at which the spillways must be opened to create space for more water in the dam.

“We had released some water from the dam on Friday to create a cushion for Saturday’s spell of rains,” Rana said. “There are no heavy rains expected on Sunday, but we usually get a window of around one to two hours in which we can decide whether or not to open the spillways.”

The opening of spillways, even though important to protect Rawal Dam, causes a surge in water flowing into Nullah Leh and often places low-lying areas in Rawalpindi at risk of flood damage.

PMD has predicted mostly hot and humid weather in most parts of the country over the 48 hours till Tuesday, but has also warned of isolated thunderstorms in Rawalpindi over the same time period.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2013.