LAHORE: Pakistan’s historical city of Lahore saw record-high snowfall earlier Thursday, leaving at least three people dead, while flooding roads, disrupting transportation and affecting normal life, authorities said, as the death toll from rain-related incidents over the past fortnight surpassed 100.
The National Disaster Management Authority reported 99 murders in incidents involving rain in July, with the majority occurring in eastern Punjab and northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions.
The NDMA predicts the most recent downpour charm, which started before sunrise, will last a year at intervals. In an expert, it said the storms are likely to trigger flash flooding and landslides.
The monsoon rains even lashed Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and other places.
The most recent spell of storms in Lahore was so big that it immediately flooded several streets and flooded some of the Jinnah and Services hospitals in the province’s capital. This caused issues for patients there who were receiving therapy there.
In the Nishat Colony area, at least one person died as a result of electrocution. A 14-year-old teenager drowned in a flooded road and a 5-year-old child died after falling from the ceiling of her apartment, police said.
Some areas in the city received a record-high 353 millimeters ( 14 inches ) of rainfall in a few hours, breaking a 44-year-old record in Lahore, according to the water and sanitation agency. In a statement, it said initiatives were afoot to pump water off of major roads.
According to officials, many residential areas were immediately flooded as a result of the rains. According to residents, the water contaminated numerous homes throughout the area.
Pakistan is still dealing with the devastation caused by the devastating 2022 floods, which claimed the lives of 1, 739 citizens and affected 33 million people. However, according to climate analysts, there will be fewer heavy rains in 2022 than there were before because of climate-induced downpours.
Pakistan experienced the wettest April since 1961, with more than twice the monthly precipitation average. The unusually heavy monsoon rains have been blamed on climate change by weather experts and professionals.
Officials in the neighboring country of Afghanistan were observing a different type of weather event on Thursday, cautioning residents against leaving their homes due to the high temperatures.
Fawad Ayoubi, a projection officer at the region’s aviation office, said people should go out before 10 a. m. and after 4 p. m. if they needed to leave the home.
Ayoubi predicted that the heat would rise in both northern and northeastern provinces and southern provinces. The rain or hot temperature from India, according to the author, is what is causing the damage in Afghanistan.
Afghans could also get tips from the World Health Organization about how to stay safe in the cooler climate. It advised people to avoid leaving kids in parked cars, eat smaller meals more frequently, and wearing a wide-brimmed helmet or hat and sunglasses.
