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| July 30, 2006 | Sunday | Rajab 3, 1427 |
Flashflood kills seven in Karak
PESHAWAR, July 29: Flashflood on Saturday swept away seven people gathered for a weekly fair in the Karak district, officials said. Eleven more people were injured, they said.
District Coordination Officer Zafar Iqbal told Dawn on phone from Karak that the deaths mainly occurred in a dry river bed in the Takht-i-Nasrati tehsil where the fair is held on Saturdays. “We have so far counted seven bodies,” Mr Iqbal quoted police as saying.
However, local people said that the water torrent washed away at least 12 people when the dry stream bed was flooded after heavy rain hit higher areas of the district.
They said that so far seven bodies, found downstream at different localities, had been identified. They were identified as Farmanullah, Javed, Aurangzeb, Saifoor, Saifur Rehman, Mohammad Rehman and Faiz. Identities of five others could not be ascertained.
Officials here said that at least 100 makeshift cabins that had been set up in the dry stream bed had been washed away.
Hundreds of people from different areas had converged at the fair venue at night. “Some people were still sleeping and some had gone for Fajr prayers when the flood waters struck the area,” the DCO said.
“Now, the water level is receding. We are assessing the damage and will inform the quarters concerned in due course,” he added.
Flood water also entered houses in the Mithakhel village in Karak tehsil, collapsing three houses and damaging several others.
The flood was mainly attributed to numerous flood barriers on the Mithakhel stream which had to be breached to save other areas from flooding, local people said.
Residents said that a man was killed in the Surdag area when he was electrocuted in a mosque.
In the Tarkikhel village, flood caused a couple of houses to collapse.
In Banda Daud Shah tehsil, the Landaki bridge was swept away by the flood water, disconnecting Gurgury from the district.
Officials of the hydrology division of the irrigation department in Peshawar said that major tributaries of River Kabul and River Swat were in ‘high flood’.
In Charsadda, Dalass Nullah was in ‘very high flood’ with water flow exceeding 16,500 cusecs water, while Jundi Nullah was in extreme flood and had inundated vast areas along its course.
Kabul River at Nowshera was in medium flood and the water level was steadily going up.
Meanwhile, Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan visited the flood-hit areas in Charsadda district, including Umerzai and Turangzai. He said that the federal government had taken effective measures to provide immediate relief to people affected by flood.
Our Correspondent in Charsadda said that flash flood had devastated Dhaki and Zaim union councils, inundating vast areas.
Three people were injured in different house collapse incident in Shabqadar tehsil in Charsadda. About 700 houses in three union councils were also facing an imminent danger of flood.
In Mansehra district, Dadar Jabori and Choha Nawazabad road was closed for traffic because of massive landslides, according to an official statement.
Our correspondent in Lakki Marwat said that a man was injured when the roof of a house collapsed after heavy rain in the Dall Mills area here on Saturday.
Torrential rains had damaged houses in several villages.
The Kurrum and Gambila rivers were in high flood after continuous rains in their catchment areas.
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