KHAR: At least nine people died in rain- and flood-related incidents in Bajaur Agency and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday and Sunday evening as River Kabul submerged vast swathes of land in Peshawar and Nowshera districts.

Six members of a family died and five suffered injuries when the roof of their house collapsed in Mamond tehsil of Bajaur Agency, officials and locals said.

The incident took place in the mountainous area of Bara Mukha, some 25km from Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur Agency.

Also read: Death toll from flash floods rises to 118

The family of Said Nazeem Khan was sleeping when the roof of the mud house weakened by rains fell on them, according to the local people. Neighbours retrieved the bodies and the injured from the debris and took them to a hospital in Khar.

The deceased were identified as Rafia Bibi, Madai Bibi, Said Nazeem Khan, Basheer Ahmed Khan, Rasheed Ahmed Khan and Mumtaz Ahmed and injured as Iqbal Khan, Zakir Khan, Ahmed Khan, Tajbaroon Bibi and Fozia Bibi.

The rains and flooding have damaged various roads and public properties in different areas of the agency. Scores of mud houses have collapsed in remote villages over the past three days.

Two young sisters died when their house caved in during heavy rain in Balakot on Monday.

The Balakot-Naran section of Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road has become impassable at many places owing to landslides triggered by torrential rains.

A boy drowned in rainwater in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday evening.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said that after Chitral, monsoon rains and flash floods had caused havoc in Nowshera, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan and other districts of the province, adds Peshawar Bureau.

It said in a statement that 78 deaths and injuries to 48 people in rain-related incidents had been reported from the affected areas so far. As many as 437 houses have been destroyed and 1,724 partially damaged.

PDMA spokesman Latifur Rehman said that high flood in River Kabul had inundated agricultural land and houses along its banks in Nowshera district. Authorities have asked residents of Nowshera Kalan and Pir Payee to shift to safe places.

He said that relief centres had been established in a government school in Nowshera and 20 families had been lodged there so far.

The situation in Camp Koroona and Qasim Baig villages was critical, he said, adding that people who had taken shelter on the Motorway had been advised not to return to their houses until water receded.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2015

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