"Across the country, for the next 10 days, we expect heavy rains," Sardar Sarfaraz, chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said while commenting on the "torrential" rains in Lahore.
On Thursday, Lahore city witnessed a maximum rainfall of almost 360 millimetre in just three hours in the Airport area while the heavy rains broke a record of at least 44 years in the federal capital.
Also read: Flooding feared nationwide as torrential rains predicted till Aug 6
The record for maximum rainfall in a day during monsoon was broken today, said Mazhar Hussain, the spokesperson for Punjab’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
Likewise, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said that the city was lashed by almost 360mm of rain in three hours has broken a previous record of 332mm over three hours in July 1980.
“This was record-breaking rainfall,” the agency’s deputy director Farooq Dar told AFP.
The PDMA has forecast the sixth spell of monsoon rains in Punjab from Thursday (today) to August 6. Most of the districts of south Punjab are likely to face strong winds and thundershowers during the period.
He had noted that water levels in rivers, dams and streams were rising due to the monsoon rains. He had warned of moderate to high-level flooding in the river Jhelum at Mangla from Aug 1 to 4.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Flood Forecasting Division said that Lahore’s airport area recorded 337mm of rain in 24 hours till 8am today. Meanwhile, Lahore’s city area saw 118mm of rainfall.
Also read: 44-year rainfall record breaks in Lahore; roads, streets turned into ponds
The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Lahore West Management Authority and the district administration were collectively working to deal with the monsoon rains.
Rainfall data issued by the Lahore Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) at 11:49am showed that the airport area received the highest amount of rain since the first spell of rain began at 4:45am.
Sarfaraz said that in Karachi, it rained to a maximum of 11-12mm — light to moderate. "However, there are some areas in Karachi where there was no downpour."
He added that there are heavy rains across Lahore. "There were more rains in Sindh compared to Punjab. But this was expected."
"This spell is expected to see a fall in its intensity, but it will keep raining intermittently till today evening as there s a substantial cloud mass. From August 1-6 several parts of the country will see rain," he said.
The chief meteorologist said that it is expected that rain would halt tomorrow. However, he said, from August 3, there s another spell expected, which will continue till August 6.
