NOWSHERA, Aug 3: Various villages in Nowshera district and outlying areas of Nowshera city were lashed by heavy rains on Saturday night, damaging mud houses and poorly-constructed settlements.

Rains, which continued for over six hours, caused a breach in a canal at Rashakai, flooding the entire area. Many villages, including Bajawri Koroona, Khorabad, Kalanjar, Khan Mohammad Koroona were inundated.

Roads, specially the Nowshera-Mardan road, were submerged beneath vast pools of rainwater while hundreds of houses were flooded. The Nowshera DCO visited the rain-affected areas and directed the revenue department to estimate the damage caused by the flood.

The provincial government has already allocated Rs10 million for the relief activities in the flood-hit areas. The government has estimated huge losses in Dir, Peshawar, Nowshera and the northern reaches of Hazara.

Peshawar Bureau adds: Temperatures dropped in the Peshawar Valley in the wake of the light drizzle on Sunday and persisting heavy overcast conditions for the past two days.

The meteorological department said that the rain, which could not be gauged on its instruments, brought the temperature down to a minimum of 25C with a recorded humidity of 88 per cent.

The Met office predicted more showers in different parts of the province. Heavy rains had lashed areas between Charsadda and Peshawar on Saturday night, wreaking havoc there.