SWABI/HARIPUR/MANSEHRA: Flash floods unleashed by heavy rainfall blocked roads, destroyed crops and damaged houses in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday.

However, no damage to public life by the natural calamity was reported.

The rain lashed Haripur and upper parts of Hazara division early on Monday damaging roads and a school building.

Chairman of the Devi Village Council Qari Noor Husain Tanoli told reporters that landslides near Garhi Shah Mohammad area blocked the main road connecting the Nara Amazai union council with Haripur and Swabi districts.

However, no damage to public life reported

He said that traffic was also suspended in Baitgali area due to landslides.

The council chairman said that the heavy rain caused rocks and a large mass of earth to slide down mountains and thus, blocking roads in Devi Gali, Kangroch, Kaneeri, Devi Bani, Tamgran, Puliyan and Namdara areas.

He also reported the flooding of six water courses and the downpour-induced damage to maiz and vegetable crops in several villages.

The head teacher of Government Primary School for Boys in Behki village said the two rooms building, which was in bad shape, collapsed during heavy rainfall.

He, however, said that no one was hurt in the incident as it occurred hours before the school opened on the first day after summer vacation.

The fresh spell of monsoon downpour also wreaked havoc in Swabi district.

The flash floods hit Sheikh Jana, Kalu Khan, Tarakai, Dagai, Turlandi, Karnal Sher Khan, Dandoka, Shewa, Mansadar, Sher Khan Kothy, Adina, Ismaila, Doubian and adjoining areas in Razaar tehsil. The Badri Nullah overflowed with its dirty water entering houses to the misery of the residents.

Officials of the district administration said that no resident was killed or injured in rain-related incidents.

The people said that they got panicked after seeing record rainfall and the flash floods caused by them as well as learning about the forecast of more downpours.

Mohammad Riaz of Sheikh Jana village said that the ongoing monsoon rains and floods had destroyed infrastructure, houses and crops, so the people had to pick up the threads of their lives after being ruined by the calamity.

Altaf Hussain of Karnal Sher village said that as the district administration didn’t prepare itself for natural disaster, the people had to suffer.

The local administration insisted that efforts were under way to help out flood victims.

A temporary bridge on the Ichar Nullah in Upper Kohistan district was washed away by flash floods suspending traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Deputy commissioner Mohammad Asif told reporters that the floodwater swept away the bridge linking the Karakoram Highway for the third time during the ongoing monsoon season.

He, however, said that the incident didn’t cause any damage to public life.

Mr Asif said that the district administration was surprised by the frequent flooding of the Ichar Nullah and was going to conduct an environmental study to know its cause, especially when such nullahs and streams in high-altitude mountainous catchment areas, didn’t even have water.

The deputy commissioner said that the Frontier Works Organisation workers had moved to the area to rebuild the bridge on the nullah for the early restoration of light vehicular traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan via Upper Kohistan district.

He said that the administration had diverted that traffic to Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road from Chelas and Mansehra after the bridge’s destruction. The concrete bridge on Ichar Nullah was swept away by flash floods on August 1.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2022