KOHAT: Two persons suffered head injuries while extensive damage was caused to standing crops and guava orchards when hailstorm accompanied by strong winds hit the Kohat district on Monday night.

The ball-sized hails also damaged several transformers and snapped high tension wires disrupting power supply to the district.

Two pedestrians were brought to the KDA divisional headquarters hospital with head injuries, while the hailstorm also broke wind shields of dozens of vehicles and caused dents in their frames, a police spokesman said.

People were seen removing the hails from the rooftops of both mud and concrete houses, fearing the heavy load could cause the roofs to collapse.

The hailstorm mostly damaged the vehicles plying on the Indus Highway, and also forced the drivers to stay inside the Kohat Friendship Tunnel till the storm lasted. The damage to the guava crop on Hangu, Rawalpindi and Bannu roads was extensive, which would affect the livelihood of the local people. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2015

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