LAHORE: The heaviest rain of the current monsoon spell is due over Lahore on Friday and Saturday, with the Met Office warning that low-lying parts of the city face a risk of urban flooding as a westerly wave reaches its strongest point.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast rain, strong winds and thunderstorms for Lahore through Saturday, with isolated heavy to very heavy falls. The city stayed hot and humid on Friday morning at around 35 degrees Celsius under clear skies, with the maximum expected near 36 degrees and the minimum around 26. Rain probability for the day is around 40 per cent, with the most likely window in the evening and overnight hours.
Two systems are driving the spell. Monsoon currents have been penetrating the upper parts of the country, while a westerly wave affecting the north and west was expected to intensify on 4 and 5 September. The combination brought widespread rain to Lahore on Thursday afternoon and is forecast to produce heavier and more sustained activity across Friday and Saturday.
The Met Office has placed Lahore on its urban flooding list for the two days alongside Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot and Faisalabad. Heavy falls are also expected in Sheikhupura, Narowal, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and Wazirabad, with Okara, Nankana Sahib, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh and Sahiwal receiving intermittent rain with occasional gaps.
The spell is expected to clear from Sunday. Saturday should be the coolest day of the week at around 33 degrees as cloud cover and rain hold the maximum down, with Sunday near 34 degrees and only a residual chance of showers.
From Monday the city returns to dry, warming weather, with the maximum climbing back through 35 degrees and reaching about 37 by the middle of next week. Nights will stay warm at 26 to 27 degrees. On current indications this is the last significant rain of the season for Lahore, and the pattern that follows it is the usual September run-up to the smog months.
Rawalpindi’s commissioner issued high-alert directives on Thursday to municipal, administrative and emergency departments across that division following the Met Office forecast, instructing WASA, Rescue 1122, Civil Defence, the district administration, the Municipal Corporation, the health department and traffic police to maintain field deployment. The instructions followed directives from Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
The provincial government has been running drainage and disposal station works under the Punjab Development Programme, with 96 drains and 94 underground water tanks completed across 51 cities and disposal station work under way in 23 more. A heavy Friday and Saturday spell is the first real test of how much of that capacity is working in Lahore, particularly around the underpasses and the older drainage in the walled city and Misri Shah.
The Met Office has advised tourists and travellers to remain alert to changing road conditions, and asked farmers to plan around the forecast. Cotton and rice growers in the Kasur and Sheikhupura belts have the most at stake, with both crops at a stage where standing water does damage.
In Lahore, the standard advice applies. Motorists should allow extra travel time on Friday and Saturday evenings, avoid underpasses during active spells, and stay clear of billboards, loose wiring and construction hoardings in high winds. Rescue 1122 can be reached on 1122 and WASA’s complaint line on 1334.
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