CHITRAL: The persistent high temperature in Chitral valley triggered two events of glacial lake outburst flood (Glof), here on Saturday afternoon in two different locations, washing away more than twenty houses, crop fields, pastures, and fruit orchards on a vast area.

In the first event, the Glof hit the district headquarters town Booni of Upper Chitral and swept away six suspension bridges, disconnecting the two parts of the town from each other.

With Saturday incidents, the number of Glofs, hitting the different parts of Upper and Lower Chitral districts surged to eight since the recent spell of rains started.

On the announcement of flood, stampede was witnessed when people, residing near the nullah, had started desperate race to get away from it.

The locals said that the flood overrunning the walls of nullah hit the crops of maize and vegetable fields and orchards of apple and disrupted life in general.

In the second incident, the Glof in Madak Lasht village of Sheshi Koh sub-valley devastated the villages of Karash, Tar and Tingel where more than 20 families were rendered homeless.

The flood washed away the valley road in a great length and severely damaged the power poles, disrupting the power supply to the valley.

The affected people are said to be in great need of relief but due to the heavily damaged road, relief activities could not been started so far in the valley.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2024