Sunday, a five-year-old girl drowned in a storm water drain in Rawalpindi’s Habib Colony after the city experienced light and heavy rain since morning.
The child passed away after falling into the water and being swept away for a kilometre and into the drain reported Rafaqat Chaudhary rescue 1122 operator.
The residents of the area pulled her out, and initially refused to hand over the body to the rescue personnel. The angry residents had also tried to attack the rescuers.
The rescue officials tried to administer CPR but failed to revive her.
A spokesperson for Wasa Umar Farooq said there was heavy rain in many areas of Rawalpindi and many low-lying areas were inundated though they had been cleared out.
He said a stormwater drain in Peshawar Road’s lane number four had burst and rainwater had seeped into homes, causing difficulties for people. Wasa staff had been deployed to different areas of Rawalpindi and water extraction was being expedited in low-lying areas.
Approximately 28 millimetres of rain had been recorded in Rawalpindi, leading to increases water levels in Leh Nullah, Kataria and Gawalmandi. While the areas of Chak Jalal Christian Colony has been completely flooded.
Wasa and rescue officials said water had also inundated many roads, leaving vehicles stranded and disrupting traffic, though Farooq said the rainwater had been cleared out and traffic flow restored.
The National Disaster Management Authority said an alert had been issued to all relevant authorities to respond to any emergency.
Two months ago, sector E-11 of Islamabad was flooded after a heavy rainfall. Two men also lost their lives in the flash floods.
