Heavy rains flood low-lying areas in Islamabad

In the early hours of Tuesday, a long spell of heavy rain and high winds in Rawalpindi and Islamabad inundated low-lying sections of the twin cities, destroyed trees, and elevated the water level in Nullah Leh by at least seven feet, Dawn reported.

The temperature dropped to 29 degrees Celsius as a result of sporadic rain that began at 12:03 am. Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Managing Director Mohammad Tanveer told Dawn that even though Leh Nullah surged to a height of seven feet, the situation was kept under control because the nullah had been dredged before the monsoon.

The Met officials believed that during a monsoon, rain only fell in a few isolated locations throughout the city, as reported by Dawn.

Islamabad reported a maximum gust of 45 knots (83 km/h), while Rawalpindi and Chaklala recorded 107 and 110 km/h, respectively, of wind speed from the north to the west.

The storm on Tuesday night, according to the authorities, did not set any records. Winds of 148 km/hr struck Rawalpindi and Islamabad in May of this year.

In addition to killing trees in several regions of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the downpour also destroyed electrical equipment, rendering dozens of locations without power. A hailstorm damaged windowpanes at Media Town and Bahria Town along the Islamabad Motorway.

Although several trees in Islamabad were damaged by the high wind, most of them were not uprooted.

A few trees, mostly in cemeteries, were uprooted, according to the Capital Development Authority's (CDA) environmental division, although the wind also caused damage to about 25 huge trees, according to Dawn.

Irfan Niazi, Director General of the Environment Wing, stated that trees with brittle wood, such as paper mulberry, eucalyptus, jacaranda, and poplar, typically experience damage from severe 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 daylight broke, the environment wing got to work removing obstructions on the road caused by downed trees and branches. Through the CDA's established process, the collected wood is sold at the price of the most recent auction, Dawn reported.