The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast further monsoon rain and warned that isolated heavy to very heavy falls could trigger urban flooding, flash floods and landslides in vulnerable areas (Geo News).
The department warned that heavy rain could inundate low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Faisalabad, Multan, Sahiwal, Okara, Bahawalnagar, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Lahore, the Potohar region, Peshawar and Nowshera.
Hot and humid weather is expected to prevail across southern Pakistan, including most districts of Sindh and Balochistan, with only isolated rain, wind and thundershowers forecast for Zhob, Musa Khel, Barkhan, Kohlu, Dera Bugti and adjoining areas.
The warning arrives with the season’s toll already heavy. Structural failure — house and roof collapses — has been the leading cause of monsoon deaths nationally, ahead of flash floods, lightning and electrocution, and nine people were killed when a house roof came down in Lahore during rain last week.
Punjab’s rivers have been running high, with the provincial disaster authority warning residents along riverbanks to move to safer ground and low-level flooding recorded in the Indus at Kalabagh, Chashma and Taunsa.
Rain is forecast across the same districts on the day Chehlum processions take place, for which Sindh has closed educational institutions and imposed a province-wide pillion riding ban, and a public holiday has been declared in Lahore.
