July 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –
At least four people, including a child, have lost their lives and eight others have been injured in eastern Pakistan as a result of flooding caused by heavy rains that hit the country, according to the local portal Dawn.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PMDA) have confirmed that the deceased are three women and a child from the cities of Lahore, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin and Faisalabad.
As far as material damage is concerned, the PMDA has so far notified five damaged houses and has declared that the rescue teams and the air administrations will remain alert “24 hours a day, seven days a week” and has requested in a statement that the corresponding authorities be informed “immediately” “in case of any emergency”.
For its part, Pakistan’s meteorological agency has warned that “monsoon rains are likely to continue for the next few days” –from July 22 to 26–, potentially triggering flash floods and landslides in “vulnerable areas.”
In this sense, the agency has called on the general population to remain in safe places during storms and has urged the authorities to take “the necessary precautionary measures during the forecast period.”
Likewise, farmers in the region have been asked to “manage their activities taking into account the weather forecast” and travelers and tourists have been advised to be “extremely cautious.”
To these general recommendations are added others from local administrations. Lahore city authorities have banned its citizens from swimming, bathing, boating or playing in or on the Ravi River until July 28.
These measures have been put in place after Lahore received “a whopping 203mm of rain in just five hours”, according to Punjab’s acting Prime Minister Mohsin Naqvi.
