Five die as thunderstorm, hails pound parts of country
Pakistan
A man died when a wall of a mosque in Rawalpindi’s Ratta Amral area collapsed
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Heavy rain and thunderstorm in several parts of the country on Wednesday proved fatal for five people.
The downpour and hailstorm battered twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, damaging cars and properties.
The rain also resulted in floods in KP which affected traffic on Peshawar-Torkham Road and other parts.
Reports said a man died when a wall of a mosque in Rawalpindi’s Ratta Amral area collapsed. A wall collapse incident in Gujar Khan claimed two lives.
Lightning strike in Muzaffargarh’s Pull Magsan area claimed life of a trader, says a report.
A similar incident was reported in KP’s Landi Kotal area, where a soldier died in lightning strike at his bunker. The victim was identified as sepoy Ilyas Khan, a resident of Bara.
Wheat crops in several parts of KP were damaged due to gusty winds. Reports said a vehicle was swept away in a flood in Landi Kotal and many others were damaged.
The hailstorm bludgeoned Rawalpindi and Islamabad, where it caused damage to vehicles and private properties.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of heavy rain in Attock, Chakwal, Gujranwala, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
In several areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the windows of vehicles were broken due to hailstorm, and the windows of houses also were broken.
In Rawalpindi, the heat wave spell was broken as 9mm of rain was recorded in Golra and 2mm in Bogra.
Read Also: PDMA issues rain, heatwave alert for Punjab
District administration officers remained in the field on the instructions of the Islamabad DC to ensure remedial measures amid torrential rain and hailstorm in the federal capital.
The assistant commissioners visited the low-lying areas, and CDA and MC teams worked to minimise inconvenience to the public.
PPP Senator Sherry Rehman took to X and called the weather “insane” with hails “coming down like pellets.”
“This is extreme weather volatility driven by climate change, where anomalies proliferate. Not a random natural event. And related entirely to human actions like emissions, which are growing because of addiction to dirty energy,” she said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium also was drenched but the PSL match between Islamabad United and Multan Sultans was held.
