LAHORE: Hours-long spells of heavy rain wreaked havoc on the Punjab capital with massive urban flooding, disrupting electricity and water supply and causing snarl-ups.

Since Gulberg and Johar Town [perhaps] were among the worst-affected urban areas of the metropolis, the recently remodelled Kalma Chowk underpass filled with massive rainwater, forcing the authorities to close it for traffic finally after many motorists trapped there.

On the other hand, the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) miserably failed to drain out the rainwater accumulated on roads and streets.

“I have been living in Lahore for the last many years. But I never saw this city in such a pathetic condition as it was on Sunday and Monday,” deplores a motorist while talking to Dawn after his car broke down due to massive water in Shah Jamal area near FC College underpass.

Recently-remodelled Kalma Chowk underpass turns out to be a sour spectacle

“Look at here, the depth of the accumulated rainwater is three to four feet. But there is no one to help us,” he said, adding that the governments in developed countries always depute teams to rescue people in such a situation.

A commuter, whose bike, like others, was submerged by rainwater accumulated at the Kalma Chowk underpass, said: “I thought I will pass through the water. But as soon as I entered, my bike stopped working after it almost sank. However, after great hardship, I finally succeeded in getting the bike out. I saw some of the car riders trapped at Kalma underpass.”

Hours-long downpour inflicted damage on roads, buildings and underground infrastructure. At some spots, the Lahore canal was also reported to be overflowed, inundating the canal road.

In Gulberg, the rain caused massive depression on roads near two under-construction plazas. Similarly, the accumulated rainwater caused a major sinkhole at Khayaban-i-Firdausi (near Shaukat Khanum Hospital. Resultantly the city traffic police diverted traffic to other roads that led to massive traffic clogs in various localities.

“We are stuck in traffic for the last one hour, as it happened after we were diverted from the main road to a smaller one. It seems there is no administration, as the entire city looks disoriented,” said a motorist, found stuck in a snarl-up in Johar Town.

Besides this, there are several points in the city where the motorists reportedly got stuck in traffic jams due to accumulated rainwater or depressions on roads.

“Depressions on various roads in Gulberg expose those responsible for such substandard construction. Similarly, the sinkholes on Johar Town main boulevard are not a new phenomenon, as various such incidents took place in the past too. But the question is why an appropriate action was not taken against the responsible officers,” deplores a citizen.

He urged the Punjab chief minister to take action by ordering a thorough inquiry into such issues with immediate effect.

When contacted, Wasa Managing Director Ghufran Ahmad claimed to have cleared several parts of the city of rainwater within the ‘shortest possible time.’

“It is true that Lahore faced a record urban-flooding due to various spells of heavy rains on Sunday and Monday,” he admitted. “But as we were already busy to drain out the rainwater accumulated due to Sunday’s rain, we received another downpour that lasted for over four hours on Monday morning (4:40am to 8:50am). This doubled the quantity of the accumulated rainwater on roads,” Ghufran Ahmad said.

The Wasa MD said since the total downpour in two days was about 266m, it is considered to be high-grade rain which the Wasa system couldn’t deal with due to capacity issues.

“Three days before, Paris, the capital of France, was full of water due to rain. So accumulation of rainwater due to massive two-day rain shouldn’t be made an issue,” he argued when asked about the failure of his department. “It is not a matter of equipment, machines, pumps we have, it is the issue of capacity of our drainage system,” he said.

To a question, the MD said the accumulation of rainwater at Kalma Chowk underpass was due to lack of dewatering pumps allegedly on the part of the central business district authorities. “Since they didn’t have pumps, we provided them one dewatering machine for draining out the rainwater. I learnt that they had placed an order for such machines, but they are yet to receive it from the manufacturing company.”

On the other hand, a spokesman for the Punjab Central Business District Development Authority rejected the Wasa MD’s claim of having no pumps.

“We used eight pumps for drainage of the accumulated rainwater at Kalma underpass,” he claimed. He said the Kalma Chowk underpass had been designed with the consultation of all government stakeholders, may it be related to traffic, water and sanitisation, electricity, and others.

The heavy showers wreaked havoc on the entire city where most of the main arteries were flooded with rainwater. Kalma Chowk underpass also observed a similar situation. He said water and sewerage channels across the city blocked water ways, creating large puddles and ponds, which is the main cause of obstruction of water. “We want to clarify that we are only responsible for operational activities within the PCBDDA’s domain,” he added.

Meanwhile, an LDA spokesman says the sinkhole appeared almost on the same place where the similar one appeared a couple of months ago. “The work on filling the hole is under way and it will be completed soon,” he told this reporter.

He said the depressions on the service lanes in front of Gulberg City Centre and Bridge-1 plazas were due to negligence of the owners who continued construction work in rains that damaged the roads.

“Lahore Commissioner/LDA DG Muhammad Ali Randhawa has ordered to stop construction work and seal these plazas besides taking action against the owners,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2023