LAHORE - The Punjab government has put on high alert all the concerned departments including the teaching hospitals, Rescue 1122, WASA and others after heavy downpour which claimed as many as 13 lives across the province. The heavy storms with thunder and lightning which struck many parts of the province on Saturday paralysed life and wreaked havoc on the power supply and communications networks. The citizens were of the view that the province especially the Lahore City never faced the season's such a heavy rainfall in the past. The city roads, particularly those in downtown, turned into enormous puddles of rainwater which caused nasty traffic jams that continued hours after the rain had stopped. Farmers were also among the most affected as the gale-force winds badly damaged and uprooted the standing crops. They added that rains dealt a bitter blow to the standing cotton crop. As many as 13 people have lost their lives while several others injured in rain-related incidents across the province, it has been learnt. An 18-year-old girl died at Charsada when a roof of her house collapsed. Similarly, six people got struck under the debris and died when roofs of two houses collapsed in Kohat. While three passengers were killed when a bus going from Sargodha to Sialkot met with an accident due to heavy rain. Hundreds of people moved to safe places as rainwater inundated low-lying areas, roads and streets. The civic organizations including the Rescue 1122, WASA officials and the officials of law enforcement agencies were looking helpless in providing relief to the people got struck in low-lying areas and wanted to move to safe places. Like the other parts of the province, the heavy downpour also paralysed the life of the provincial capital residents restricting them to their homes. The heavy downpour with severe storm, uprooted many electricity poles and damaged telephone lines and other communication network suspending all kinds of connections for the time being. According to met report a trough of westerly wave is moving across northern parts of the country while a strong monsoon current from the Arabian Sea is reaching Punjab and Kashmir up to seven thousand feet. A well marked seasonal low lies over Balochistan while yesterday's monsoon low has moved northwestwards and today it lies over northeastern Rajasthan and adjoining areas. Widespread thunderstorm/rain has been forecast for Kashmir, NWFP and Northern Punjab while scattered rain has been predicted for southern Punjab, eastern Balochistan and Sindh during the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, reports of rain have been received from a number of cities. Rainfall recorded by Met office in these cities this morning is as follows: Sialkot 12 mm, Mandi Bahauddin 4mm, Dir 32 mm, Dera Ismael Khan 11 mm, Faisalabad 4 mm, Islamabad 4 mm and Okara 1 mm.