By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A severe hailstorm and torrential rain battered Islamabad and surrounding areas Wednesday, smashing vehicle windscreens, shattering windows, and uprooting trees as residents shared footage of golf ball-sized hail pelting the capital.
Social media footage showed hailstones pelting the city during the 35-minute storm, which struck in the afternoon with strong winds.
Children playing in parks were caught off guard by the sudden tempest, seen fleeing to safety as the storm intensified. Power outages were reported across multiple neighborhoods.
The Islamabad district administration said emergency teams were mobilized to manage traffic and clear waterlogged streets.
“The extent of the damage caused by the hailstorm is still being assessed,” said a spokesperson for the administration. “There are reports of broken windows of vehicles and houses in various areas.”
Rescue teams were dispatched to major highways, and drainage operations began swiftly to prevent urban flooding, the statement added.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman, a former climate change minister, described the event as “insane” in a post on social media platform X, noting hail was “coming down like pellets.”
She linked the extreme weather to climate change. “This is extreme weather volatility driven by climate change, where anomalies proliferate. Not a random natural event. And related entirely to human actions like emissions, which are growing because of addiction to dirty energy.”
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had earlier warned of rain, wind, and thunderstorms across northern Pakistan starting Wednesday, with dust storms and further rainfall forecast for Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and other cities through April 20.
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