RAWALPINDI: At least three people lost their lives in rain-related incidents as monsoon rains lashed the twin cities and surrounding areas on Thursday.

The downpour also raised water levels in Rawal Dam.

In one incident, two people died and two others were injured when an electric pole collapsed on a car near the Carriage Factory on IJP Road in the Sabzi Mandi police jurisdiction. Police said the concrete pole apparently fell due to heavy rain at around 2:45pm.

The pole struck a car carrying five passengers, including two women. Rashid Niaz, 50, who was driving, and Mohammad Bin Amir, 12, were killed. Both were residents of Rawalpindi. The injured women were treated and later discharged from hospital.

Met Office warns of more heavy to very heavy rains in next 24 hours across Potohar and other regions

In a separate incident, the body of a woman was recovered from a drain near Bhoosa Godown in Rawalpindi and identified as Anam Bashir, a private school teacher and resident of Afshan Colony.

She had reportedly booked a cab to travel to Islamabad for work but went missing during Wednesday’s rain. Police said the cab was later found damaged in a street near a drain in Westridge. The driver, Hasnain, remains missing. The vehicle’s owner confirmed that Hasnain was operating the car as a cab. Anam’s relatives identified her body at the hospital and declined legal proceedings or a postmortem, terming her death an accident.

According to police, the car was trapped in water accumulated from a storm drain on Range Road.

Rainfall varying from light to heavy hit different parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad from 6:30am to afternoon bringing down temperatures but causing urban flooding, especially in low-lying areas around Leh Nullah.

The Met Office recorded 35mm of rain at Bokra, 29mm at Golra and Islamabad International Airport, 23mm at Zero Point, 33mm at Saidpur, 34mm at Pirwadhai and 18mm at Shamsabad. No rain was recorded at Chaklala and Katcheri.

Post-rain temperatures dropped to 31.5°C in both cities, but the humidity level at 73 per cent created a “feels like” temperature of 38.5°C. The Met Office warned of more heavy to very heavy rains in the next 24 hours across Potohar and other regions, potentially triggering flash floods in nullahs and streams in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Murree, Galliyat and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Balochistan.

Urban flooding is also expected in cities like Lahore, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Peshawar, and Karachi on June 27 and 28.

Landslides could block roads in hilly areas such as Murree and Kashmir. The weather system, driven by moist currents from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and a westerly wave, is expected to persist until July 1. The water level in Leh Nullah rose to 9 feet at Kattarian and 7.5 feet at Gawalmandi.

Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) teams drained rainwater from several locations, including Murree Road, Raja Bazaar and Sadiqabad. However, areas like Rawal Road, Tipu Road and Javed Colony remained waterlogged. Wasa Managing Director Saleem Ashraf said a rain emergency had been imposed in Rawalpindi, dividing the city into four sectors with control rooms operating in three shifts to handle any crisis.

In Islamabad, Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon directed assistant commissioners to remain in the field during rain. Sanitation teams were deployed across the capital to keep drainage systems functional.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2025