PESHAWAR, June 29: Troops were put on high alert on Wednesday after raging torrents in Kabul river threatened to inundate Nowshera city and its adjoining areas, officials said.

The provincial flood warning centre cautioned that the water current spotted in River Swat at Kalam on Wednesday afternoon would enter River Kabul on Thursday and cause massive destruction in low-lying areas of the central NWFP.

The liaison officer of the centre, Engineer Abdul Wali Yousafzai, told Dawn that he had requested the military authorities to take pre-emptive measures to protect Nowshera city, about 35 kilometres east of Peshawar.

“Nowshera is under threat, because the water level in River Kabul is only five feet below the city, touching the GT Road,” said Mr Yousafzai. The military authorities have been requested to dispatch sandbags to protect the city, he said.

A large part of Nowshera district is already under water and many houses there have collapsed. Officials said that 40 houses had been swept by floodwater in Camp Koroona near Nowshera city and boats had been deployed to evacuate stranded families.

Corps Commander Lt Gen Safdar Hussain who visited flood-hit areas in Peshawar, Nowshera and Charsadda districts on Wednesday said that additional troops had been put on high alert due to the worsening situation. Lt Gen Safdar directed the troops to pre-position themselves to tackle any untoward situation.

The corps commander called upon the troops to make an all out effort to provide assistance to the affected people.

The Inter Services Public Relations said that troops continued the rescue operation in the worst-affected areas and distributed 50,000 sandbags and 900 tents with the help of the civil administration.

The flood warning centre said here on Wednesday evening that River Kabul was in high flood at Warsak and Nowshera with discharges measured at 101,935 and 152,500 cusecs, respectively.

The statement said that other tributaries of River Kabul were also in high flood.

Reports said that River Swat was overflowing at Kalam and that four bridges, three small power generation stations and a recreation park had been washed away in the picturesque valley.

Officials said that the situation was getting worse with very passing day in the three districts, forcing a large number of people to flee their villages.

An official of the revenue department said that the floodwater had inundated 18,736 acres of land in Charsadda district and more than 225 mud houses had collapsed completely.

The inundation of farmland had also affected the supply of vegetables and fresh fruit to Peshawar.