KHAR/SHANGLA: A woman was killed and her child was wounded as heavy rain accompanied by gusty winds damaged a number of houses in Bajaur tribal district on Sunday evening, local residents and officials said on Monday.

The residents said the incident in which a woman was killed and her child wounded took place in hilly Almazo area of Mamond tehsil. They said the 27-year-old deceased identified as wife of Fateh Khan along with her two-year-old child was going to a nearby water tank to fetch water when an under-construction wall of their house fell on them.

Residents said woman died on the spot while her child was seriously wounded and was shifted to the district headquarters hospital, Khar.

According to reports coming from different parts, a number of houses caved in owing to heavy rain and windstorm. However, residents said no causalities were reported.

The locals said solar panels installed on rooftops were damaged in Mamond, Nawagai and Charmang areas.

The windstorm also damaged wheat and vegetable crops in Khar, Nawagai and Salarzai tehsils

Meanwhile, boundary wall of a government primary school in Barang collapsed.

An official told Dawn that the district administration planned to start a survey to assess the damage caused to houses and crops.

In Shangla, a windstorm accompanied by rain on Sunday night blew away rooftops of several houses, sign boards and also caused collapse of walls of houses.

The locals told Dawn on Monday that their mud houses and corrugated iron-roofed houses were affected as a result of gusty winds and rain.

“Corrugated sheets of my house were blown away on Sunday night when the windstorm struck the area. With the help of neighbours I shifted my family to a nearby house,” Syed Wahab, a daily wager of Gul Bahar Colony in Bisham city, said. He demanded compensation for rebuilding the house.

The people said sign boards of various business centres were also uprooted by the gusty winds. They said the windstorm affected houses mostly in Bisham. They demanded of the district administration to provide relief to the people.

OFFICE-BEARERS NAMED: Rahbar Ali was elected district president and Mohammad Roshan general secretary of the all primary teachers association, Shangla chapter, on Monday for the year of 2019.

The office-bearers were named at a meeting of the body in Alpuri.

Iqbal Hussain was named president and Fazal Raziq general secretary for Alpuri tehsil, Liaqat Ali president and Mujeeb ur Rehman general secretary for Chakesar tehsil and Farmanullah president and Zakirullah general secretary for Bisham tehsil.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2019