PESHAWAR, Feb 6: The widespread rain and snowfall caused substantial damages to private properties across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) largely focused its attention on Mardan district, hometown of the chief minister.

The authority immediately conducted damages and needs assessment survey in Mardan and sent 700 tents from its warehouses with directives to the district authorities to arrange food and nonfood items for the affected people.

The PDMA director general also visited Mardan on Wednesday.

The statistics compiled by the authority showed that three people have been killed and 10 injured in rain-related incidents, while 125 houses have been damaged fully or partially in Mardan.

The rain caused widespread damages in the adjacent Swabi district, where 1,227 houses, including 100 houses in the Afghan refugee camp, Gandaf, had been declared damaged.

The PDMA has dispatched 100 tents and 100 food packages to help the affected population in Swabi.

It sanctioned Rs2 million for Haripur district, while heavy machinery has been dispatched to Shangla district to clear snow from roads.

Officials said total death toll from the three-day rain in the province was 29, while 75 people suffered injuries. They said a total of 1,393 houses had been fully or partially damaged across the province.

Whereabouts of the three army soldiers whose outpost was hit by an avalanche in Lower Dir district has not been ascertained.

Internally displaced persons from Khyber Agency in Jalozai Camp, who deserve humanitarian assistance in the wake of heavy rainfall have been marginalised.

The people in Shangla fear an acute shortage of food items as the three-day long snowfall and rain have blocked roads and disrupted communication links. The remote district has been without electric supply for three days.

The district headquarters, Alpuri, is under four feet snow, where a man was killed in a roof collapse incident.

“We are confined to our homes. Food items are short,” Fazal Subhan, a resident of Kotkai village of Alpurai said.

According to locals, hilly and remote parts of Shangla district received up to seven feet snow.

MPA Fazlullah from Shangla said two women were killed in Dherai area, while seven were injured last night.

He said the rain and snowfall had damaged 290 electric poles and nine power transformers in Puran area.

Although weather cleared in Upper Dir on Wednesday after four days, the people complained of biting cold.

The snow has blocked all roads and most of the areas are without electric supply.

The mountainous areas of Upper Dir have received up to five feet snow and those of Dir town one and a half feet snow.

The closure of roads disconnected various areas, including Kalkot, Gwaldai, Thal, Barawal, Dobando and Lowari from the district headquarters.

The main Dir-Chitral Road was also closed and passengers were unable to travel to and from Chitral. Dozens of Chitralis, who traveled from Islamabad and Peshawar, have been stranded in Dir.

Reports from Swat said 11 houses were hit by an avalanche in Neem Kas area of Othrow, some 13km north of Kalam Bazaar.

However, no casualty was reported as the houses were vacated by the people much before the start of rains and snowfall.

The houses of Mustaqeem, Mohammad Hussian, Hanifullah, Mohammad Yaqoob, Mohammad Ayub, Abdul Akbar, Gul Zada, Hazrat Wali, Syed Karim, Hazrat Gul and Saleeh were damaged by the avalanche, residents said.