RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD: A few hours long spell of rain with strong gusts in Rawalpindi and Islamabad inundated low-lying areas of the twin cities, including underpasses, uprooted trees, and also raised the water level in Nullah Leh by at least seven feet in the early hours of Tuesday.

The rain started at 12:03am and continued for a few hours intermittently, bringing the mercury down to 29 degrees Celsius. “Leh Nullah rose to seven feet but the situation remained under control due to dredging of the nullah before the monsoon,” said Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director Mohammad Tanveer while talking to Dawn.

The Met officials were of the view that in monsoon, the rain occurred in the small pockets and it did not occur across the city. It recorded a maximum gust of 45 knots (83km per hour) from north to west in Islamabad while the wind speed in Rawalpindi was recorded at 107 kilometres per hour; in Chaklala, it was 110 kilometres per hour.

The officials said Tuesday night’s storm was not a record-making storm. In May this year, winds at the speed of 148km per hour hit Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Wind gusting up to 107km per hour uproot trees, poles

The rainstorm not only damaged trees in parts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, but also damaged electricity infrastructure, leaving dozens of areas without power supply. In Media Town and Bahria Town along the Islamabad Expressway, a hailstorm damaged windowpanes.

The strong wind damaged a large number of trees in Islamabad, but the majority of them were not uprooted. The environment wing of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said that several trees mainly in graveyards were uprooted but the wind damaged around 25 large trees. In most cases, branches of a large number of trees snapped.

Environment Wing Director General Irfan Niazi said that brittle wood trees, including the paper-mulberry, eucalyptus, jacaranda and poplar usually suffer due to strong winds.

“But the strong wind damaged the hardwood trees too, as one pine tree broke into two on Margalla Road; local Mulberry and even a couple of sheesham (Indian rosewood) trees were damaged,” he added.

As soon as the daylight broke, the environment wing swung into action clearing roadblocks created by fallen trees and branches. The wood obtained is sold at the price of the last auction through the prescribed procedure of the CDA.

On the other hand, strong winds at the speed of 58 knots also damaged the electricity infrastructure due to uprooted tree trunks, branches and signboards, causing power outages in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The officials of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) described the situation as a ‘horrible storm’, adding that a large number of power supply wires, feeders as well and electricity poles were damaged.

“Around 180 feeders developed fault leading to tripping; at least five high tension poles suffered and a large number of local power supply poles as well individual connections suffered,” a spokesman of Iesco said, adding that almost all the complaints have been addressed.

In May this year, winds at the speed of 80 kilometres per hour (40 knots) blew away temporary shelters and uprooted some trees.

The Met Office said that the peak wind speed in the twin cities reached 58 knots which is around 107 kilometres per hour at 12:05 am Tuesday. However, the gust lasted for only 15 minutes followed by around 39 mm rainfall.

The experts in the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said that a storm-like situation occurred due to the delays in the arrival of cool winds from the west and northwest.

The experts in PMD have said that conditions were hot along with very high humidity over the past few days; this coupled with urban heat generated by Islamabad, Rawalpindi and all the area even beyond Taxila created a vacuum-like situation in the lower atmosphere over this region. The average humidity in Rawalpindi - Islamabad is around 40 per cent these days.

However, due to the continuous flow of warm moisture winds from the Arabian Sea, the humidity level in Islamabad was 56 per cent Monday evening and reached 82 per cent by 11pm.

“To fill this vacuum the cool winds from north and northwest rushed towards the region - creating gusts,” the official said, adding that the cold precipitation also dropped the mercury level. The Met Office predicted at least two mild rain spells before the monsoon season officially ends on September 15.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2023