PESHAWAR: At least 18 more deaths were reported as heavy rain continued to wreak havoc in large parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the fourth consecutive day on Monday.

Upper parts of the province including Chitral also received heavy snowfall. Heavy rain in the upper parts of the province also resulted into medium to high level flood in the Kabul, Panjkora and Swat rivers.

Met department has also issued high level flood warning for the people living on the banks of the Kabul River and its tributaries in Nowshera district. The department has predicated more rain as a strong westerly wave is likely to enter the upper parts of the country on Tuesday night that may result into rain and thunderstorms with occasional gaps from April 17 to 21 in several districts of the province.

Five persons were killed in Lower Dir, four in Khyber, two each in Swat and Dera Ismail Khan and one each in Mansehra, Battagram, Mohmand, Charsadda and Bajaur districts in rain-related incidents.

Dozens of houses damaged, major roads remain blocked due to landslide in different districts

In Lower Dir, four persons including two children were killed when the house of Muslimzada collapsed due to heavy rain in Luqman Banda in the limits of Khall police station on Monday.

Similarly, the driver of pick-up vehicle identified as Saleem Khan, a resident of Swat, drowned in floodwater in Shamshi Khan Talash while his son Hamza, 10, was rescued by local volunteers and shifted to Dir Levies post in Bandagai.

Peshawar-Timergara road remained blocked for the whole day due to flood in streams in Talash, Kharkanai and Gulabad. Talash bypass remained blocked due to mudslide while Bagh-Dushkhel road was blocked for hours due to landslide in hilly areas.

Badwan-Chakdara road also remained closed to traffic due to landslide in Badwan Tarai. Similarly, several vehicles were hit by landslide in Darangal area of Samarbagh. The motorists remained unhurt.

Four persons including two women and two children lost their lives while 12 others received injuries in rain-related incidents in Khyber.

Officials said that house of Abdur Razaq collapsed due to heavy rain in Sheen Drand locality of Akkakhel in Bara, resulting into death of two women and two children. Five more members of the same family sustained injuries and were shifted to hospital. They said that more than two dozen houses were damaged in rain-related incidents in different parts of the district with injuries to at least five more persons.

Heavy rain caused flooding in the dry streams along Peshawar-Torkham Highway that caused traffic jam for several hours.

Officials said that machinery was used to clear debris from the main and link roads in different parts of Khyber, particularly in Tirah valley. They said that administration also provided tents to the families whose houses were damaged by rain while arrangements were made for free treatment of injured.

They said that survey was initiated to ascertain the damage caused to properties by rain so that the affected families could be compensated for their losses.

Two people including a minor were killed while another minor went missing as flood in Rod Sohaili, a mountainous drain, swept away a pick-up van in Umarkhel area of Dera Ismail Khan district. The deceased man was identified as Mir Alam.

Standing crops of wheat, gram and pulses in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan were severely damaged due to flood in streams.

Commissioner Zafarul Islam said that there were reports of floodwater entering South Waziristan and adjacent hilly areas. He said that the flood was currently passing through Garah Baloch area of Tank and was expected to enter Kulachi tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan after passing through Takwara and Garah Mohabbat areas.

Similarly, two brothers were killed after the roof of their house collapsed in Shaldara village of Swat district on Monday. They were identified as Junaid and Waqas.

Kalam Road was closed again due to landslide at several places. About 40 sheep and goats were killed when landslide hit Syed Afzal’s house in Shukhdara area of Matta tehsil. A mosque was also destroyed due to a landslide in Doghulgo area of Matta.

The administration has closed educational institutions in Swat for two days due to heavy rain and threat of flood.

Heavy rains also caused also wreaked havoc in Hazara division as a girl was swept away in a flooding stream. The district administrations were put on high alert following the Indus River overflowing over the Dasu hydropower project’s protective wall on Monday.

The fresh spell of downpours, which started on Saturday night, continued sporadically for the entire day and

triggered flood in the Indus and other rivers while landslide blocked Karakoram Highway at many points in Kohistan region.

A 12-year-old girl stated to be the daughter of Attaur Rehman was swept away in a stream in Ogar-Sehri area of Mansehra district. Rescue 1122 officials recovered her body.

The district administrations of Mansehra, Torghar, Upper Kohistan and Lower Kohistan were put on high alert following the Indus River swelled to an alarming position.

The passengers travelling between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan remained stranded in their vehicles for the entire day as the highway was blocked in Chuchung in Upper Kohistan and Pattan in Lower Kohistan due to landslide.

The families settled on the Dubair stream-side near Ranowalia left their houses for safer places following it swelled to an alarming level and eroded local artery linking dozens of villages with Karakoram Highway.

The water entered into settlements in the Ranowalia area, displacing local dwellers. The people settled at the Kunhar riverside in Balakot tehsil were also directed to shift to safer places as Kunhar and Siren rivers were flowing high.

In Mohmand district, a child was killed and four others were injured in two different roof collapse incidents.

In Battagram, a woman from Bandigo drowned in floodwater near Takia area and her body was recovered in Gul Dheri.

Similarly, a child was killed and five others were injured in separate roof collapse incidents in Charsadda district. Rain also damaged the standing crops in the district.

Meanwhile, an electric pylon fell down on Battagram-Romai road as a boulder rolled down on it due to landslide. Also, Battagram-Allai road was blocked in Sijbiar due to floodwater.

In Shangla, three houses were damaged and main and link roads were blocked at various places while medium level flood was witnessed in the Khan and Kana rivers. Several families moved to safer places after their houses were declared dangerous by revenue department.

In Chitral, most of the roads were blocked while electricity and internet supply also remained suspended. A large part of Chitral also received heavy snowfall. Tourists visiting the district were stranded due to closure of roads.

Irrigation department said that the Panjokra River in Dir was in high flood with a discharge of 71,771 cusec water. Similarly, the Swat River was also in high flood in Khwazakhela with a discharge of 70,387 cusec water. Besides, the Swat River was also in high flood in Munda with a discharge of 122,000 cusec water.

Met department said that during the past 24 hours Saidu Sharif received 125 mm of rain while Dir Lower 115, Dir Upper 101, Malam Jabba 105, Chitral 81, Pattan 67, Peshawar 64, Balakot 37, Takht Bai 34, Bannu 29 and Dera Ismail Khan 14 mm.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2024