LAHORE - Hot and dry weather will prevail in the country while the Met Office has forecast scattered dust-storm with isolated rain-thunderstorm for Islamabad, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha divisions), upper Khyber PK (Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat divisions), Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Noorpur Thal remained the hottest place in the country where mercury rose as high as 49 C. A shallow westerly wave is also prevailing over northern parts of the country. Local Meteorological Department has forecast partly cloudy weather with chances of dust-thunderstorm-rain for Lahore during the next 24 hours.
Unscheduled loadshedding added to the woes of heat stricken people at the peak of the summer season. As usual, the Lahorites thronged Lahore Canal to get some relief from harsh weather conditions and hours long loadshedding.
Dust raising winds and patches of clouds provided some respite to the heat-stricken Lahorites in the morning and at nighttime by causing slight decrease in the mercury level. Abundance of sunshine, however, turned the weather oppressive at noon and in the afternoon by increasing daytime temperature.
Summer ills
Hospitals and private clinics are witnessing alarming increase in the number diarrhea and gastro patients, mostly children. There has been an extraordinary rush at the emergency and outdoor patient departments of all public sector hospitals including Children’s Hospital. As per the hospital sources, the number of diarrhea and gastro patients visiting emergency and OPDs crossed 1,500 during the last couple of days. Doctors said that children suffering from gastro and diarrhea were being brought from localities having a poor sewerage system. A doctor at Jinnah Hospital said that these days the number of such patients had rose to 200 a day and the situation would persist till September. He said parents should initially give ORS and boiled water to children suffering from diarrhea.