PESHAWAR: Two people were killed in a rain-related mishap in Dera Ismail Khan district as the rain continued to lash large parts of the province for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.

The Dera Ismail Khan police said that the squad vehicle of Maulana Asjad Mahmood, son of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, skidded off the road near Wanda Yarik due to rain and fell into a ditch. Two volunteers of Ansarul Islam, the JUI-F’ssub-organisation, lost lives in the incident, which injured one person.

Police said the deceased belonged to Lakki Marwat district.

The bodies and the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital. Further investigation into the incident is under way, according to police.

Official says rainfall to benefit crops

Meanwhile, the provincial capital continued to receive light rain for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.

A fresh spell of rain and snowfall swept across the Swat Valley on Wednesday, bringing a significant drop in temperatures and making the weather extremely cold throughout the region. Heavy snowfall was reported in the mountainous areas, including Malam Jabba, Gabin Jabba, Kalam, Utror, Gabral and Matiltan, while plains of Swat experienced persistent rainfall. Residents resumed the use of jackets and woolen shawls in the chilly conditions.

Meanwhile, the snowfall, particularly in Malam Jabba, recorded a surge of tourists.

The Meteorological Department urged residents to remain cautious, especially in the high-altitude areas where heavy snowfall, according to it, could impact travel and daily life.

Similarly, fresh spell of rainfall in the plains of Lower and Upper Dir has intensified the cold weather, forcing citizens to wear warm clothes again. It continued to rain across Lower and Upper Dir for the third consecutive day here on Wednesday.

Residents told Dawn that hilltops in Upper Dir and Bin Shahid in Lower Dir also received light snowfall.

They said the precipitation had brought the temperature down significantly, while farmers welcomed the rainfall, hoping it would help replenish water sources and benefit seasonal crops.

People in all parts of both the districts were forced to take out their warm clothes due to the chilly cold weather.

“The fresh spells of rainfall will prove advantageous for wheat crops and fruit orchards,” district director (agriculture) Sajjad Hussain said, adding that farmers should use chemical fertilisers in the rainy weather to boost their products.

The Meteorological Department said that over the past 24 hours, Parachinar received 32mm of rain, Malam Jabba 23mm, Kalam 12mm, Dir 10mm, Bannu 9mm, Dera Ismail Khan 7mm, Drosh, Peshawar City and Cherat 5mm each, Chitral, Saidu Sharif and Pattan 4mm, Lower Dir 3mm, Takht Bai 2mm and Mir Khani, Kakul and Balakot 1mm each.

It also forecast cloudy weather accompanied with intermittent rain along with windstorm and thunderstorm and isolated heavyfalls and hailstorm (snowfall over the hills) for Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Kohistan, Buner, Battagram, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram, Mardan, Peshawar, Swabi, Charsadda, Nowshera, Kohat, Hangu, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan and Waziristan.

On Thursday, cloudy weather accompanied with intermittent rain along with windstorm and thunderstorm with isolated heavy rainfalls and hailstorm (snowfall over the hills) is expected in Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Kohistan, Buner, Battagram, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram, Mardan, Peshawar, Swabi, Charsadda, Nowshera, Kohat, Hangu, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan and Waziristan.

Meanwhile, farmers in Swabi in a gathering said that the rainfall across the district would have a very positive impact on wheat yield and other crops as well as vegetables grown.

Kisan Board, a wing of farmers of Jamaat-i-Islami, organised the meeting in which all stakeholders of different regions and farmers participated while discussing their confronting problems and possible solutions.

The participants said that the Irrigation Department had stopped water releasing to the canals in the month of December every year so that the canals can be cleaned, aiming that the water is not wasted but now the water should be released.

Akhtar Ali, a farmer, warned if there was no water, it would cause great damage to other crops besides wheat.

He said the irrigation department should realise the delicacy of the critical time of the wheat crop, which was a highly critical stage.

Khalid Khan said along with wheat, the plantation of tobacco had started, so water was badly needed for growing vegetables.

He said the current rainfall and forecast of more rain would have a positive impact on the crops.

Asfandyar Khan, general secretary of tobacco growers’ association, said that the wheat crop cultivated widely in both irrigating and arid land in the district by the farmers required water for making its yield stronger and testy.

“The areas where the wheat crop is irrigated through the canal system, the irrigation department has not released water though we demanded its supply,” he said.

Hanif Khan, a major farmer of Maneri Bala region, said the irrigation system was no longer operative and those who irrigate wheat through water pumps had started irrigating their crops before the rainfall because the wheat crop was in dire need of water.

He said the growers wanted to complete the irrigation task as soon as possible but the rainfall relaxed them.

An official of the irrigation department said water would be released into the canals very soon as wheat and other crops badly needed water.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026