GILGIT, April 12: Recent rain and snowfall in Ghizer district have caused loss to life and property. Roads, power units, trees, crops, cattle and cattle-pens had been badly affected and two villagers had died, said people of the area. Heavy land sliding and rocks had hit the Gilgit-Ghizer road, closing it for traffic, they said. Suspension of telephone and road links had rendered the area incommunicable, leaving other parts of the region unaware of what had happened in the district, they said.

They said that a woman, who could not be identified, died as her house caved in during rain while another person died in the border village of Darkot in Yasin tehsil. The identity of the second victim could not be known either.

A resident, Shareen, said that rain and snowfall uprooted over 0.5 million trees, damaged over 5,000 cattle-pens, killed hundreds of animals (particularly the high grazing yaks) and eroded water channels of hydel power houses and farmlands in Puniyal and Ishkomen tehsils.

The Northern Areas Works Department, which was supposed to look after the Gilgit-Ghizer road, failed to remove mass off the road, leaving the district cut off from the rest of the region for the whole week, he said.

Meanwhile, PIA operated two flights to Gilgit on Tuesday. However, the Karakoram Highway, which was blocked in Kohistan district on Sunday, could not be reopened to traffic.