PESHAWAR, June 27: Flood water swept into hundreds of homes and laid to waste vast tracts of agricultural land in the low-lying areas of Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera districts as the Kabul and Swat rivers continued to be in high flood.
The worst affected areas are Tapu Koroona, Sheikhabad and Jala Bela of Peshawar district, at the confluence of Kabul, Swat and Shah Alam rivers and according to unofficial reports about 150 houses were destroyed.
The Flood Warning Centre in Peshawar said the water discharge was at its highest in the current flood season, reaching for the first time 107,000 cusecs at Warsak dam.
The centre said in a statement that the water flow in River Kabul at Nowshera had reached 144,000 cusecs at 4pm. It also said that the River Swat at Monda head works was also in high flood and measured the total discharge at 43,750 cusecs.
The Inter Services Public Relations said the troops were continuing their rescue operation in the affected areas and shifting families to safe places. The army will carry out more relief operations on Tuesday.
Overall, the level of preparedness of the government, relief organisations and UN agencies has not been quite up to the mark, especially when one considers the plight of hundreds of marooned families in the flood-hit areas.
The UN agencies failed to help Afghan refugees who were fleeing in the wake of the floods.
Residents of the affected areas told Dawn that despite warnings about rising water levels in all the rivers, the government agencies had not taken enough measures to save the population living in the catchment areas. Both ministers and rescue teams failed to do what was expected of them, they said.
People complained that they had not received any relief from the government and other agencies. Most of the affected families were forced to take shelter with their relatives, they said.
“Army troops and health teams visited villages about two days back and then returned without helping people marooned in different areas,” said Jehanzeb Khan, a resident of Sheikhabad where floodwater had caused widespread damage.
The flood destroyed crops in the low-lying areas and farmlands were submerged in several feet of water, residents said.
Afghan families residing in Khazana refugee camp in Peshawar began fleeing the camp as soon as the water level rose in Shah Alam river, a tributary of River Kabul.
About 200 refugee families piled up their household items near the Charsadda road and looked for shelter under the open sky. The inmates of the camp said that a team of the UN agency arrived in the area and went back without providing any help.
Despite huge damages and increasing level of water in all rivers, the irrigation department was unable to come up with a flood-management plan for the protection of the population.
An official in the irrigation department said the department was short of resources and could not do anything beyond its capacity. He said that the department had put its manpower and machinery on alert to look after protection walls and bridges.
