PESHAWAR: With flash floods triggered by torrential rains continuing to damage houses, roads and bridges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, seven people were killed and eight injured in separate incidents on Monday.

A house collapsed in Maday Baba area of Mardan district killing three people and injuring four.

The Rescue 1122 workers pulled bodies and the injured out of the debris and shifted them to the hospital.

The deceased included two women, one aged 70 and other 38, and a 35-year-old man, while a woman and her two minor daughters were the injured.

Suspension of traffic, power supply also reported in districts

The Rescue 1122 officials reported two deaths by drowning.

They said Rasheed, 30, drowned after he jumped into the swollen Nissata stream to seize wood in the gushing water. The body was recovered afterward.

The rescue workers also got hold of a body spotted under the bridge of the Ghaladher Nullah.

In Kareno village of Lower Dir district, a villager was killed after part of his house collapsed due to heavy rains. The deceased was identified as Badshah Wazir, 65.

A boy of Khungi village in Timergara area of Lower Dir district was killed after falling into a 60 feet deep well. The Rescue 1122 workers recovered the body of Muneeb, 16.

Four people of a family were injured after the roof of their house caved in, while several houses were damaged by torrential rains in different areas of Swabi district.

The local administration said a house collapsed in Jalbai village injuring a woman and her three children. The injured were shifted to the Bacha Khan Hospital, Shahmansoor.

The downpour destroyed two houses each in Kunda and Panjpir villages. Four cattle head perished in Zaida village after the roof of their pen caved in. House collapse incidents were also reported in Bamkhel and Yar Hussain villages, while boundary walls of many houses also collapsed.

Streets were flooded in many areas with water entering houses. The floodwater suspended traffic on the Topi-Tarbela Road, Swabi-Mardan Road, Swabi-Jehangira Road, Swabi-Maneri Road and other link roads for hours to the inconvenience of motorists and commuters.

An Upper Kohistan bridge linking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Gilgit-Baltistan by the Karakorum Highway was swept away in flash floods early on Monday.

However, no damage to public life was reported.

Local deputy commissioner Mohammad Asif confirmed the bridge’s destruction and said vehicular traffic between KP and GB had been suspended.

He said efforts were under way to rehabilitate the bridge to restore traffic.

The Ichar Nullah and Indus River were also flooded.

The residential quarters established alongside the Ichar Nullah by the Chinese workers of the Dasu hydropower project were swept away along with their machinery, trucks and dumpers in the swollen nullah. However, no damage to human life was reported.

An official of the Dasu dam project told Dawn that the Frontier Works Organisation had moved machinery to the area to out up a suspension bridge to resume traffic but the task would be take five to seven days to complete.

He, however, said the calamity didn’t affect work of the Dasu dam, which would continue.

In Shangla, too, heavy rains caused flash floods and landslides blocking main and link roads and suspending electric supply.

The rainfall began on Sunday night and continued until Monday morning causing the local streams and rivers to overflow. The floodwater entered Baily Baba Bazaar in Alpuri tehsil damaging goods.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2022