PESHAWAR: Severe cold gripped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as rain in plains and snowfall in hilly areas of the province continued on Thursday.

Met Office said that Kalam in Swat district recorded the lowest temperature where the mercury level plunged to minus 9 degree Celsius followed by Malam Jabba hill station where minimum temperature was recorded minus 3 Celsius.

The Met Office also issued forecast for the next 24 hours with scattered and widespread rain and snow.

Meanwhile, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) issued a weather alert to all deputy commissioners on Thursday to adopt precautionary measures to cope with any natural disaster in the wake of the continuing rains.

The bad weather, according to the alert, may cause road blockage, landslide in hilly areas and urban flooding in Peshawar on Friday and Saturday.

Power supply to Shangla and most parts of Bajaur remains suspended

The provincial capital received scattered rains with intervals and the Met Office recorded 7mm rain in the afternoon. Some areas of the province including Malam Jabba received 5 inch snow, Kalam 6 inch and Chitral 0.4 inch snow during the past 24 hours.

Heavy rain was recorded in parts of Hazara region, where Pattan received 19mm, Balakot 29mm, Saidu Sharif 12mm and Kohat 18mm rain.

Heavy snowfall was reported from Orakzai tribal district, North Waziristan, parts of Bajaur and Kurram tribal districts. Locals said that snow blanketed Razmak, Dattakhel and Shawal areas of North Waziristan and a large number of tourists from the adjacent districts rushed there to enjoy the snowfall.

In Shangla, electricity has been suspended for the last four days due to heavy snowfall and rain that damaged the pylons.

The snowfall and rain have disturbed routine life and caused suspension of electricity in the entire district.

The local administration on Thursday claimed to have cleared major roads of snow.

In Bajaur, most areas have been without electricity for the last four days. Power supply to majority of areas has been suspended since the first day of the ongoing spell of rain that started on Monday.

Bilal Yasar, a resident of Thani area in Mamond region, told this scribe that it was the first time during the last two years that the tehsil experienced such long suspension of electricity.

Similarly, the residents of Nawagai, Salarzai, Utmankhail, Chamarkand and Barang also complained about suspension of power supply to their areas for the last four days.

The residents of most areas of Khar tehsil also complained about suspension of electricity.

Officials said that efforts were under way to fix the faults restore power supply at the earliest.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2022