Rain continues in twin cities as farmers fear for standing wheat crop

RAWALPINDI/GUJAR KHAN: Rain continued lashing the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Saturday, bringing down the temperature to 18 degrees Celsius.

The Met Office predicted cloudy weather on Sunday (today). The rain started at 8:30am and continued till the evening with occasional gaps. The sun and clouds played hike-and-seek throughout the day.

The Met Office recorded 39 millimetres of rain at Saidpur Village, 35mm at Zero Point, 18mm at Golra, 13mm at Bokra, 9mm at Islamabad International Airport; 29mm at Shamsabad, 19mm at Chaklala and Kattarian, 16mm at Pirwidhai and Gawalmandi and 13mm at Kutchery in Rawalpindi and 37mm rain in Murree.

An official said that a strong westerly wave was affecting most upper parts of the country and likely to persist till Sunday.

“Dry weather is expected in most parts of the country while partly cloudy in upper parts. However, rain-wind/thunderstorms is expected at isolated places in north/west Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and adjoining hilly areas during afternoon/evening,” he said.

Due to heavy rainfall, landslides and flash flood may occur in Kashmir, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Murree-Galiyat. Windstorm/hailstorm and lightning may damage weak structures (electric poles, billboards, solar panels etc) during the forecast period. Hailstorm/windstorm may damage standing crops in Punjab and KP.

“Leh Nullah rose to six feet at Kattarian and five feet at Gawalmandi, but the situation remained under control,” said a Wasa spokesman.

“Wasa officials are on alert to deal with any emergency. The heavy rain lashed in the catchment area of Leh Nullah but it did not raise the water level,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rescue 1122 Murree has put all water rescue emergency resources on high alert in view of the adverse weather conditions, rains, strong winds and possible landslides.

A spokesman said that the rescue team, fire rescue, medical emergency and rescue and recovery units had been fully mobilised for immediate response. Rescue 1122 personnel are ready with ambulances, rescue vehicles and water rescue boats to deal with possible emergencies in Murree, Gulyat and adjacent areas.

He said the emergency response time had been further improved by ensuring staff presence at all stations. In case of any accidents, roadblocks, landslides due to bad weather, all relevant emergency units will be immediately mobilised to carry out rescue operations.

The Murree district administration said that the public was requested to avoid unnecessary travel during bad weather, stay away from mountainous areas and dangerous places.

Meanwhile, the unexpected spells of rain and hailstorms have worried farmers who feared serious damage to the standing crops nearing harvest.

During the last 36 hours, the Potohar region of Jhelum, Gujar Khan and Kallar Syedan have received heavy rains.

In some areas of Jhelum, Sohawa, Pind Dadan Khan, Daultala and Kallar Syedan, an intermittent spell of hailstorm also hit standing wheat crops.

Chaudhry Abrar Rasheed, a farmer in Jatli, said the heavy rains caused the water to log in the roots and crops fall, and the grains start blackening due to fungal growth in humidity.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2026

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