LAHORE: Seven people, including four minors, were killed and 25 others were injured in rain-related incidents in different parts of the province on Friday.

Three minors lost their lives in a roof collapse incident as heavy rain lashed the city. According to Rescue 1122, seven people sustained injuries in Lahore and 18 in other districts of central Punjab in rain-related accidents.

Starting in the morning, the intermittent rain continued for several hours, inundating several roads and low-lying areas.

According to Rescue 1122, three children lost their lives when the roof of their house collapsed in Old Kahna Main Bazaar. The rain also caused massive traffic jams on different roads.

According to Met officials, Lakshmi Chowk area received the highest 167mm rain, Tajpura 134mm, Farrukhabad 133mm, Gulshan-i-Ravi 126mm, Nishtar Town 124mm, Mughalpura 110 mm and airport 58mm. The rain was also reported in different cities of the province, including Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Gujrat, Sialkot, Mangla, Attock, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Narowal, Okara, Kasur, Sahiwal, Khanewal and Bahawalnagar.

The current wet wave and its pattern will continue for the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar asked Wasa to clear rainwater from low-lying areas.

He said citizens should not face any difficulty and smooth flow of traffic should also be ensured.

CM’s focal person for digital media Azhar Mashwani tweeted that the majority of the areas had been cleared.

Meanwhile, district administration officials visited different areas of the city to see efforts to pump out water.

Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Mutazir Mehdi also visited different areas of the city to clear traffic.

LESCO: Tripping of over 200 electricity feeders played havoc with the power distribution system as several localities of city remained without power for several hours.

The situation worsened when the Lesco field teams started energizing the feeders one by one with lowering of the rain intensity.

“The electricity supply in our area remained suspended for almost 12 hours on Friday. First we came to know that our feeder has tripped due to rain. And later we came to know that another fault has emerged that led to prolonged power suspension,” Tahir, a resident of Chungi Amar Sadhu area, said.

OKARA: Two persons were killed during rain while six others were injured in four incidents in Okara district, which received 76.6mm rain accompanied by thunderstorm..

Allah Ditta, a farmer, was cutting fodder in the fields at Mandi Ahmadabad when lightning struck him, killing him on the spot.

In the second incident, two-year-old Ahmad touched an electricity pole at Chak 2/4L near the city and died after receiving a shock.

In the third incident, the roof of the house of a poor family collapsed at Jabooka Chowk, 15km from Okara city. As a result, a woman and her minor daughter and son were buried under the debris.

The Rescue 1122 rescued all the three of them; however, they received multiple injuries. The injured were shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) City Hospital.

In another incident, the roof of a bakery collapsed at Hujra Shah Muqeem, resulting in injuries to three men.

KASUR: Two persons died in rain-related incidents in the district.

A woman died as the roof of her cattle pen collapsed at Zaheerabad Colony near Chunian.

Sakina Bibi was milking buffaloes when the roof of the shed caved in. Locals and Rescue 1122 took the body out of the debris.

In another incident, the lightning claimed the life of a youth in the fields at Bhagiwal Araianwala village near Khudian.

Two buffaloes of farmer Sikandar died when the lightning struck them at village Bhamba Kalan of Kot Radha Kishan.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2021