The thunderstorm followed by heavy rain began in early Tuesday morning and continued till evening. As per the Meteorological Department, the city received 142 mm of rains while at Lahore airport it was recorded 143 mm. The maximum temperature dropped to 30 Celsius degrees and the minimum temperature was 23 Celsius degrees. More clouds and thunderstorm have been forecast for next 24 hours.
The much tall claims made by the civic agencies and City District Government Lahore (CDGL) washed out with the rains. Before the advent of the monsoon rains, various provincial departments publicized their contingency plans to drain out rain water from the city. Deputy Commissioner Lahore, Saleha Saeed held numerous meetings to review arrangements for heavy rains and already directed all departments to be prepared at the time of rain. However, the heavy downpour exposed the efficiency of the local government and thus leaving commuters stuck on jam packed roads. The rainwater inundated all major roads of the city and restricted people to their homes.
Icchara, Monzang, Shadman, Gulberg, Johar Town Qaddafi Stadium, Township, Badami Bagh, Abid Market, Nisbat Road, Laxmi Chowk, McLeod Road, Churburji, Islampura, Sandha, Krishannagar Bazar, Shadbagh, Railway Station, Missri Shah, Waseempura, Mughalpura, Do Muriah Pul, Queen's Road and Cooper Road, Baber Market, Outfall Road and Anarkali were inundated and the roads were submerged.
Vehicles, especially motorcycles, found it a daunting task to drive on the flooded roads and many were stranded in the water. Roads looked like rivers and canals, which blocked the traffic.
Many markets opened late and salaried people were late to the work or could not go due to flooded streets. Streets in the Akbari Mandi, the largest food commodity market in Asia, were also flooded with rainwater and businesses could not start early. Meanwhile, the District Administration Lahore in its handout said that they had alerted all departments about heavy rains in advance and had directed WASA, LWMC and MCL field staff to ensure immediate pumping out of water, gathered on different roads due to torrential rain, which continued with intervals in the city.
"In today's rain WASA staff functionalized dewatering pumps at the start of rain and directed assistant commissioners to remain in the field for supervision of water drainage," the admin said.
The Deputy Commissioner herself remained in the field and visited Laksmi Chowk, Baber Market, Outfall Road, Anarkali and other areas and supervised dewatering process. She also appealed the citizen not to come out of their homes unnecessarily and warned them not to sit under weak and bad conditioned roofs and walls.
The district administration also issued a report of water removal from different roads, saying that WASA and MCL under the supervision of district administration drained out water from 22 important roads till 12 noon. On the occasion, the DC said: "All the officers of the district administration are in field, ensuring immediate removal of rainwater from sore points which have already been identified by the WASA before the start of monsoon. The administration is in touch with meteorological office and consistently getting information of imminent rain."
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister, Sardar Usman Buzdar directed to take necessary measures for the disposal of rainwater from low-lying areas in Lahore and other cities of the province and added that line departments should proactively work in this regard.
"I will not tolerate any negligence; smooth flow of traffic be ensured and relevant officers should remain available in the field. Early disposal of accumulated water should be ensured," he added.