MANSEHRA: Rains and flash floods continued to batter Kaghan and Manor valleys on Friday as torrents in the Mahandri area swept away eight more shops.

The gushing waters of Manor stream brought heavy boulders with them, intercepting Kunhar River’s flow and creating a lake in the Mahandri area, where over 20 shops have so far been swept away by floodwaters.

“If the district administration fails to clear the blockage in Kunhar River till morning (Saturday), the lake could burst triggering more human and financial losses downstream,” Shakeel Jani, a local resident, said.

The affected people of Manor Valley also protested against the delay in the reconstruction of the destroyed main bridge on the Manor stream when chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry visited the area along with Mansehra deputy commissioner Adnan Khan Bittani and other officials.

They raised slogans against the district administration, the National Highway Authority and Kaghan Development Authority, and demanded that the Pak Army intervene and rebuild the bridge at the stream and rescue the families still stranded in the area.

“Our families have been without food and other necessities since natural calamity hit the area four days ago, but government officials are only making claims of reopening the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road ,” a protester said.

Mr Chaudhry, who faced an embarrassing situation in Mahandri area earlier in the day, directed the National Highway Authority and the district administration to ensure early reopening of the MNJ Road.

“Over 85 per cent of the stranded visitors have already been evacuated and dispatched to their homes and rehabilitation of damaged roads and electricity infrastructure in Manor Valley is underway,” DC Mr Bittani told the chief secretary.

Meanwhile, tourist families stranded in Naran, the commercial hub of Kaghan Valley, left for their respective destinations across the country in a convoy of hundreds of vehicles via the Karakoram Highway.

“The district administration had issued a Mayday call and warned tourists to leave Naran as more floods and rains could cut off the entire Kaghan Valley with rest of the country,” Saifullah Khan Lughmani, a visitor, who got stranded in Naran, said.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2024