Dear Editor,
Once again, the Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned of urban flooding in several cities as another spell of monsoon rain approaches. The forecast includes flooding risks in low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Faisalabad and Lahore.
Weather warnings are necessary, but they should not become our primary strategy for dealing with urban flooding. If the same roads, neighbourhoods and underpasses are inundated repeatedly, the problem is no longer simply unusually heavy rainfall. It is also one of drainage, waste management, construction practices and urban planning.
Cities need publicly available flood-risk maps identifying vulnerable neighbourhoods and drainage bottlenecks. Municipal authorities should inspect and clear drains before the monsoon rather than after streets have flooded. Building approvals should also take drainage capacity and natural waterways seriously, while citizens need better systems for reporting blocked drains and dangerous locations.
Climate change may increase the intensity of extreme weather, but poor preparedness magnifies its consequences.
Pakistan cannot control every cloudburst. It can, however, control whether drains are functional, settlements are planned responsibly and emergency information reaches people in time.
The goal should be to make heavy rain a manageable weather event rather than a recurring urban crisis.
Zooha Indhar