56 die as rains wreak havoc in NWFP: Monsoon hits Punjab, N. Areas
Dawn Report
LAHORE/ PESHAWAR, June 28: A spell of intermittent moderate to heavy rains, likely to last six days, began in Punjab, NWFP and Northern Areas on Thursday. The meteorological department said it expected the spell to intensify from July 1 to July 3, also covering the Sindh and Balochistan coastline.
Torrential rains triggered flash floods and landslides, killing at least 56 people in the NWFP.
The National Flood Forecasting Division’s radar surveillance indicated heavy cloud clusters in the Sargodha-Peshawar and Islamabad-Lahore regions. Meteorologists forecast heavy rainfall in Mianwali, Sialkot, Wazirabad, Kotli, over the motorway and the G.T. Road and the upper catchment area of the river Jhelum over the next 24 hours.
They expressed apprehensions that hill torrents might hit Dera Ghazi Khan and the Kabul river might inundate Charsadda and Mardan some time during the same period. Heavy rain was reported from Lahore and many other cities of Punjab.
“The spell is the outcome of a fresh depression (which) will cover … Sindh and Balochistan, especially between July 1 and July 3,” said Chief Meteorologist and head of Flood Forecasting Division Shaukat Awan.
He said there were chances of storms with wind velocities ranging between 100 and 150km an hour.
There are risks of flash floods and landslides in the mountainous region, especially Azad Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad Valley, urban flooding in all major cities and swelling of rivers, including Chenab, and all nullahs in the Sialkot region.
“There are little chances of flooding in major rivers but heavy rainfall from Parachinar, Hunza, Chitral, Peshawar and Mardan has already swelled the rivers Swat and Kabul,” Mr Awan said.
As observed at 8pm, he said, the depression was likely to move towards Indian Hyderabad and Maharashtra coast and split into two, one moving towards northern Punjab and the other toward the Arabian Sea.
Mr Awan said there were chances of rain in various areas of Sindh, particularly Tharparkar and Thatta.
At 5pm, the meteorological department had recorded 56mm of rain in Saidu Sharif. Peshawar received 48mm of rain, Malamjabba 43mm, Rawlakot 42mm, Islamabad airport 37mm, Peshawar 35mm, Kotli 28mm, Lasbella 27mm, Parachinar 25mm, Dir 22mm, Jhelum 18mm, Muzaffarabad 17mm, Quetta 16mm, Bannu 10mm, Murree and Kohat 8mm, and Hunza 6mm.
Reports received from Peshawar say that flash floods killed at least 23 people in the Khyber Agency on Thursday.
An official said that another 15 people were killed in the remote Tirah Valley of the same agency.
Several houses and small bridges on the Peshawar-Torkham road in Jamrud and Landi Kotal tehsils of the Khyber agency were washed away.
The road linking Afghanistan was blocked for several hours.
A house collapsed in the Sultankhel area of Landi Kotal tehsil, killing eight Afghans of the same family, including three children.
In Zakhakhel area, three people were killed when two houses caved in while three children lost their lives after a truck overturned. Officials said three bodies were found in a water course near Ali Masjid where flash flood damaged several houses. Hill torrents swept away several shops in the Landi Kotal Bazaar. A private school and a seminary were also damaged.
A house collapsed in Badhber area of Peshawar killing a child.
Rainfall in Peshawar on Thursday caused power breakdowns. Many mud houses were damaged and low-lying commercial and residential areas were inundated.
Landslides were reported from various areas in Mansehra and Battagram districts.
Officials said that the road between Kaghan Highway was blocked at Lambi Dehsri while landslides blocked link roads in the Allai area.
An official said that River Kunhar was in high flood at Garhi Habibullah. Sirean River was also in high flood.
The flood warning centre of the hydrology division in Peshawar said that several rivers, including Kabul River, were in high flood. A bulletin issued on Thursday said that Kabul River at Adezai Bridge was in very high flood with a discharge level of 44,338 cusecs. Shah Alam, a tributary of the Kabul River, was also in high flood.
