At least five people were killed and several others injured in rain-related incidents across Punjab over the past 24 hours, rescue officials said on Friday, as severe weather battered parts of the province.
According to Rescue 1122 spokesperson Farooq Ahmed, heavy rain and strong winds lashed multiple districts on Thursday, leading to electrocution cases, lightning strikes, and the collapse of walls and rooftops.
He said two people were killed by lightning in Narowal, one man died in Gujranwala after being struck by a falling tree, while two others lost their lives in separate rain-related incidents in Lahore. Rescue teams shifted the injured to nearby hospitals for emergency treatment, he added.
Separately, officials noted that Pakistan remains highly vulnerable to climate change and has increasingly faced extreme weather events in recent years, including floods, heatwaves, cyclones, droughts, and intense rainfall.
In earlier incidents, torrential rains in late March and early April pushed the nationwide death toll from weather-related accidents to over 80.
Last year, severe monsoon rains combined with excess water releases from Indian dams triggered flash floods that killed at least 1,000 people across the country, according to official figures.