PESHAWAR: Heavy rain and snowfall lashed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas on Saturday partially paralysing life in mountainous areas.

The widespread rain and snow, which began late Friday night, continued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata on Saturday.

The reports suggested that heavy snow and avalanche blocked roads in mountainous areas of KP and Fata.

Heavy snow, avalanches block roads in mountainous areas

The Karakoram Highway, the land route between China and Pakistan, was also blocked at different places due to snowfall and landslide.

Chitral, Kalam, Malam Jaba, Kaghan, Narran, Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency and Parachinar received heavy snow, which brought mercury below the freezing point.

Access roads to Tirah remained blocked after 1.5 feet snowfall in the valley.

Heavy snowfall has been reported in Orakzai Agency. Bad weather has also led to the suspension of power supply to several areas in Malakand and Hazara Divisions.

The Met Office in Peshawar said around 10 inches snow was recorded in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency.

In Chitral, heavy snowfall was reported in the length and breadth of Chitral during the last two days causing accumulation of snow ranging from two to four feet in different areas of the district.

The electric poles were damaged disrupting power supply to the city, while vehicular traffic was closed throughout Chitral.

The situation is reported to be more peculiar in upper parts of the district where snowfall entered its fourth consecutive day on Saturday.

Executive engineer of communication and works department Maqbul Azam told Dawn that work on the snow clearing would begin as soon as the snowfall ceased

for which his staff members were all prepared.

He said it might take a week to restore vehicular traffic and bring it to normal to establish the contact between lower and upper parts of Chitral and Lotkoh valley, while some roads were prone to snow avalanches delaying the work.

In Mingora, the mercury dipped below zero degree Celsius as heavy rain and snowfall lashed Swat district, while Bahrain-Kalam Road was blocked due to a huge avalanche on Saturday.

Around two feet snow was reported in Kalam, Utror, Gabral, Pishmal, Matiltan and Malam Jabba, while 12 millimeters rainfall was also recorded across the plains of Swat valley.

The heavy rain affected life in the main city of Mingora as the people found it difficult early morning to go through streets and roads filled with mud and rainwater due to the frequent rains.

UPPER DIR: The life was paralysed in Upper Dir after receiving a new spell of snowfall and rain.

The mountainous areas including Lowari top, Kumrat, Thal Kalkot and Doog Dara also received heavy snowfall.

Electricity to various areas including Dir, Panakot, Qashqari, Qulandi, Duro, Sheringal, Brawal, Doog Dara and others was suspended for two days.

The people said in Mansehra, the Karakoram Highway remained blocked in Loter area in Kohistan causing inconvenience to the passengers traveling between Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Kaghan-Naran section of Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road, which was blocked due to snowfall and landslides early last month, had yet to be reopened.

In Kohat, rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm and strong winds was reported on Saturday.

The rain began in Kohat district, Hangu, Thall and Darra Adamkhel in the wee hours of the day.

It caused the early closure of all businesses and prompted most people to stay indoors.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2017