PMD warns of urban flooding, 163mm of rain in Islamabad’s Saidpur

ISLAMABAD: Parts of Islamabad received heavy downpour on Monday afternoon, with the highest amount 163mm recorded in Saidpur, as the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) says flash floods and urban flooding are expected in the coming days.

Heavy rain in and around Saidpur as well as the adjoining rural and urban localities in northeastern Islamabad reportedly swept away some cars and bikes, with local streams overflowing and roads inundated.

Read more: Eastern and central Punjab feel the brunt of monsoon low

Talking to HUM News, Islamabad DC Irfan Memon said rain started around 2:30pm and the amount recorded was 127mm in just 90 minutes.

He mentioned that the administration was busy in carrying out an anti-encroachment drive in the area for the last several weeks and the locals had constructed temporary crossing over the streams.

Saidpur is a village just across the posh Sector F-6 along the Margalla Hills.

According to Memon, the vehicles were parked in the path of streams, not roads, explaining why the gushing water swept these. Two cars and a bike were damaged in the process.

It is the encroachments and illegal constructions in the largest stream that increased the intensity of waterflow, he added.

At the same time, Memon told HUM News that the anti-encroachment drive would be expanded as soon as the rain stops.

CLOUD DEVELOPMENT

On the other hand, it is still raining in Islamabad and Rawalpindi by the time this report being filed, with more expected in the coming hours on Monday (today) and Tuesday (tomorrow), especially after midnight.

The reason are the expanding clouds.

Satellite images at 6pm show dark clouds over Islamabad, parts of Rawalpindi, adjoining areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as Kashmir. Later, the clouds started moving from northwest to southeast direction in this region.

Separately, large cells (thick clouds) were also developing in areas along the Pak-Afghan border (Parachinar). Malakand Division and around Mansehra.

On the other hand, clouds are also visible over eastern and central Punjab.

Meanwhile, the weather conditions over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Malakand Division meant that the different cloud cells merged and started moving towards upper Punjab.

As a result, latest satellite image at 8:30 shows that thick clouds are about to reach Islamabad and may soon start producing rain.

LATEST MONSOON SPELL

Meanwhile, the PMD says moist currents from Arabian sea are currently penetrating in Pakistan along with a westerly wave affecting the western and upper parts of the country.

Read more: 27 dead as monsoon rains inundate low-lying areas in Punjab

With the current spell to grip the country from July 21 (Monday) to July 25 (Friday), it has also warned to flash floods in local nullahs/streams of upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as the Peshawar valley (Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan), hilly and mountainous regions of Punjab including Islamabad and Rawalpindi, DG Khan, northeast Punjab and Kashmir.

At the same time, urban flooding can also paralyse life in urban centres like Lahore, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Okara, Nowshera and Peshawar.