PESHAWAR, Feb 4: It continued raining and snowing heavily in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s central and southern districts and adjoining tribal areas, especially Kurram and Khyber agencies, for the second day on Saturday blocking roads in hilly areas of Malakand and Hazara divisions.

The Met Office forecast more rains and snowfall in the next 24 hours. Also in the day, a boy, Abdur Rehman, died in Batkhela area of Malakand Agency after a mud wall collapsed due to rains where he was standing.

Reports said snow blanketed Swat Valley, Kalam, Behrain, Miandam, Malam Jaba, Marghazar and Shangla Top blocking roads, while chilly weather lowered temperature in Kalam to minus eight degree Celsius.

The army sent heavy machinery to Kalam and Malam Jaba to clear snow from roads.

In Bajaur, heavy showers and snowfall disrupted life and shut down all roads linked with Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

Heavy snowfall was also reported in some parts of Mamound, Salarzi and Nawagi tehsils. Some urban parts of the agency also received snow.

Four to five feet snowfall have been recorded so for in the hilly parts of Pak-Afghan border area of Ghakhi pass and Nawa pass by which roads linked to Afghan Kunnnar province from Bajaur has been closed and the road link between Bajaur and Kunar was also suspended.

Dozens of link roads in parts of the agency were shut down due to rains and snowfall, which also suspended electric supply and telecommunication services in the agency by and large. Several houses in Mamound and Slarazi areas collapsed due to heavy showers but no damage to human life was reported.

In Chitral, too, rains and snowfall continued falling hard disrupting vehicular traffic and flights.

Around two feet of snow had fallen in some areas.

PIA cancelled flights from Peshawar and Islamabad to Chitral on Saturday for the fifth consecutive day.

Meanwhile, Upper Dir people have appreciated the nine-kilometer Lowari tunnel’s construction saying unlike the past, they could now travel from their area to Chitral district by vehicles despite heavy snowfall.

Previously, the road at Lowari Top used to remain closed to traffic for at least four months in winter stressing out locals.

Vehicles now use the tunnel built by a Korean construction company at the cost of Rs17 billion bypassing Lowari Top, which is buried under several meters of snow in winter.

Mohammad Ayub, a resident of Chitral, said the tunnel’s construction kept the area connected with the rest of the country throughout the year.

“I took my father to Islamabad for treatment a day ago and am returning now. It was not possible a few years ago,” he said.

He said no alternative route was available to Chitralis during snowfall.

“They would either go through the volatile Afghanistan or cross the Top on foot. A dozen of people used to die every year at the Top trying to cross it on foot. A rough estimate says over 5,000 have died so far,” he said.

For the last couple of years, the stories of avalanches burying trekkers have ceased to emanate from the mountainous road as the people no more have to undertake that risky walk over the 10,500 feet high and snow-covered Lowari Top.

“The winter’s snow would strand us in Chitral for six months,” said Akbar Hussain at a restaurant in Qashqaray on Chitral Road.