GILGIT: As flash floods fuelled by rapidly melting glaciers continued to wreak havoc in Gilgit-Baltistan, the Karakoram Highway was blocked at multiple points due to mudslides on Sunday.

The rapidly melting glaciers due to heatwaves have caused flooding in streams and rivers in various areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. These floods have swept away crops and damaged dozens of houses in the region. In addition to the KKH, the Gilgit-Shandur road was also blocked due to flooding.

According to authorities, the KKH has been blocked at multiple locations from Gilgit to Khunjerab. In Gilgit’s Jaglot and Hunza’s Shishkat village, the highway has been blocked due to mudflow. Subsequently, thousands of passengers, including foreign and local tourists, had been stranded due to the road closure.

The Gilgit-Ghizer road was also blocked at multiple locations after local nullahs overflowed in the Ghizer district. According to the police, the flooding occurred in various nullahs of Ghizer on Sunday, causing damages to public and private property.

Due to the floods, over two dozen houses were damaged and three dozen houses were partially damaged.

The bridges, roads, water supply channels, and electricity systems were also affected by the floods, which also disconnected the link between several villages in Ghizer.

Similarly, flash floods also occurred in Aliabad, Haiderabad, and other areas in Hunza as well as in Shigar and Nagar.

There was no official statement from the government regarding the scale of devastation in multiple districts of the region. However, the director general of the GB disaster management remained unavailable for comments despite multiple attempts.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024