GWADAR/QUETTA: Heavy rains wreaked havoc in Gwadar, Kech district and other parts of Balochistan, suspending normal life and traffic on the Coastal Highway and cutting off Gwadar and Ormara from Karachi and other parts of the province.

The Gwadar district administration has declared a state of emergency in rain-hit areas and para-military forces have been called in to help the district administration in rescue and relief operations of the affected people.

This was the heaviest rain spell in Gwadar district after 2010 when heavy rains hit the area triggered by a cyclone. Met officials said the coastal district received over 100mm rainfall in 12 hours. Though no casualty has been reported so far from any rain-hit areas of Gwadar, boundary walls and roofs of several mud houses collapsed in several areas.

Officials said rains which started late Monday night continued lashing the port city and other towns for 12 hours without break, causing urban flooding. Flash floods rendered hundreds of people homeless. Flood waters entered residential and commercial areas and roads of Gwadar town were presenting a pond-like situation.

Gwadar district administration declares state of emergency in rain-hit areas

“Around four feet of floodwater accumulated in our houses and we have no place even to sit,” Rahim Bakhsh, a resident of Mullah Band, a locality close to the Gwadar port, told Dawn. He added that Faqir Colony and several other localities were also submerged by floodwater.

A number of fishing boats were either destroyed or drowned in the sea which were anchored at the coastline of Gwadar. Most of inter-districts or roads were washed away in the floodwaters that cut off Ormara, Pasni, Jewani and Sarbandan from Gwadar.

Officials said a portion of the coastal highway linking Gwadar port with Karachi and other areas was washed away, cutting off Gwadar, Turbat and other areas with Karachi.

According to irrigation department officials, the Akra Kaur Dam has been filled up to more than its capacity and its spillways have been opened to release flood water and save the dam’s structure. Officials said Turbat-Mirani dam has also been filled up to its capacity and its spillways have been opened. “The dam is intact and there is no threat to its structure,” an official of the dam management told Dawn.

Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Aurangzeb Badini, along with chairman of Gwadar Municipal Com­mittee Sharif Maindad and other officials concerned, visited the affected areas and launched rescue and relief operations.

In Quetta, the new spell of heavy rains that started on Sunday night continued on Tuesday, submerging parts of the provincial capital. Rainwater entered settlements, particularly in slum areas, while a swollen stream threatened settlements on the outskirts of the city.

Reports received from different parts of Balochistan said rains played havoc in Zhob, Loralai, Pishin, Chaman, Qila Abdullah, Toba Achakzai, Ziarat, Duki, Qila Saifullah, Kalat, Mastung, Khuzdar, Sibi, Bolan, Lasbela, Nasirabad, Kachhi, Dalbandin, Taftan, Noshki, Gwadar and many parts of the Makran division.

On the other hand, Ziarat, Kalat, Mastung, Sanjavi, Muslim Bagh, Khanozai, Qila Saifullah, Qila Abdullah and other areas received snowfall with brief intervals.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2024