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KARACHI, Feb 17: At least 29 people were killed and 158 others injured when torrential rains and strong winds lashed the country on Monday. Dozens of houses were flattened.
Nine people were reported dead from the Gadap and Surjani Town areas of Karachi and an equal number of people were killed in Quetta. Five people died in the rain-related incidents in the NWFP, four in Hyderabad, and one each in Gujranwala and Muzaffarabad.
A state of emergency was declared in Hyderabad within the local limits of taluka city, Qasimabad and Latifabad for three days from Monday and educational institutions ordered to be closed during this period.
The storms wreaked particular havoc in low-income and kutchi abadis. They also badly disrupted electricity and telecommunications systems, with many areas cut off from other parts of the country.
According to the Met office, Rawlakot received 204mm. There was 3-foot snowfall in Astore.
Hill torrents swept away a Gwadar-bound bus coming from Karachi when it was parked near Loze Top, some 150km away from Uthal, owing to some fault. Seven people drowned and another 22 were injured.
Social workers rushing to Gadap, 10km off the Super Highway, early on Monday told Dawn that more than 135 families in two villages and one locality in Surjani Town had been affected by the downpour.
“In Ali Mohammad Goth in Gadap, four people lost their lives when their houses collapsed following the rain. In Jumani Goth, three others were killed. At least 43 people were injured,” said social worker Rizwan Edhi.
Police said that at least two people were killed in Surjani Town when tin sheets blown away by winds hit them. Another seven people were injured, they added.
An orchard owner in Gadap said the law enforcement agencies had closed the road from Gadap to Baqai Medical College where President Pervez Musharraf was chief guest at a convocation. “The road block, which was finally open to traffic around noon, caused a great deal of anguish to people and social workers who wanted to reach the rain-hit area at the earliest,” he complained.
He said many people in Gadap had felt certain that they had been hit by an earthquake. However, Met office director-general Qamaruzzaman Chaudhry told Dawn that no seismogram in the city had recorded tremors.
Mr Edhi identified those killed in Ali Mohammad Goth as Izzat Khatoon, 70; Qadir Bukhsh, 40; Mohammad Shiraz, 5; and Murad Mohammad, 33. He said 18 others were injured.
“In Jumani Goth, at least three people lost their lives but we have not been able to ascertain their names. Twenty-five others were also injured,” he explained. In Surjani Town, police said, Qadir Bukhsh and Zeenat had been killed and seven others injured.
HYDERABAD: Two people, Habibullah and Hussain Bux, were struck by lightning in the jurisdiction of Chambar union council of Tando Allahyar.
In Gulshan-i-Hali, a woman died and 11 others, including eight women, were seriously injured when the roof of a house caved in. A marriage ceremony was in progress in the house of Abdul Raheem when the incident took place.
Zarina, wife of Abdul Rehman, died on her way to hospital.
The injured included Zainab, daughter of Abdul Raheem; Zainab, 70; Wahidan, Sitara, Noor Bano, Parveen, Sameena, Husn Bano, wife of Abdul Raheem; Mohammad Akram, Dilawar and Abdul Rehman.
Mohammad Hanif, a resident of Ilyasabad, was electrocuted on Station Road.
Five people suffered injuries when their house collapsed in Goth Ali Hassan Chang in the jurisdiction of the Hatri police. They were Haji Ghulam, his wife Ameerzadi, and children Aasi, Zahid Ali and Rustam Ali.
Eleven passengers were injured when a Hyderabad-bound coach, coming from Karachi, overturned on the Super Highway near the Essa cement factory.
An employee of the civil hospital, Dilawar, suffered multiple injuries when the roof of his house, situated in the employees colony, collapsed.
Kishore was injured when his motorcycle collided with a coach near the Poonam petrol pump.
Electric wires fell on roads and in various localities, posing threat to passers-by.
A fire broke out in Block-D of Saadat colony. Fire tenders extinguished the fire. No one was hurt.
Ghulam Mohammad was injured in Aamil colony when the roof of his house caved in.
The residents of Makranipara blocked the Autobhan Road near Maaji hospital to protest against the accumulation of rain water in and suspension of power supply to their locality.
TPO Site Syed Amir Abbas Shah arrived at the spot with a heavy contingent of the police and persuaded the protesters to end the protest.
In unit No-4 of Latifabad, people had to cut the road to drain the rain water out from their houses.
The Met office recorded 100mm of rain in Hyderabad as against the previous record of 37mm.
District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman declared the state of emergency within the limits of taluka city, Qasimabad and Latifabad for three days from Feb 17 to 19. All the educational institutions would remain closed in these talukas.
The EDO (health) also declared emergency in all the hospitals and cancelled leaves of health department staff.
Reports reaching from interior parts of the province said that farming community had welcomed the rain.
The civic life in Hyderabad’s three talukas was paralysed. Rain water seeped into underground cables, rendering hundreds of telephones out of order.
Scores of vehicles remained stranded on roads for hours as rain water had poured into silencers. All main roads were submerged under water.
In unit Nos 7, 9, 10 and 11 of Latifabad, rain water entered many houses as the sewerage system had collapsed.
Power supply remained suspended for 12 hours in almost all parts of the city which, in turn, affected the water supply.
Heavy showers were also received by Sanghar, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Badin, Mirpurkhas and Dadu.
In Sanghar, wheat, sugarcane, chilies, banana, fruit orchards and other crops which were badly hit by a water shortage for the last two months, would benefit from the rain.
QUETTA: Torrential rains played havoc with most parts of Balochistan as hill torrents swept away a small earthen dam near Quetta and livestock, and demolished dozens of houses.
A Gwadar-bound bus coming from Karachi was washed away in hill torrents, killing seven people and injuring 22. Five bodies were recovered.
Sources said that the bas was parked after it had developed some fault near Loze Top. The injured were taken to the Uthal hospital.
Two children were killed in Dalbindin area when a wall collapsed.
In another such incident in Dera Murad Jamali, seven people were injured.
Quetta received widespread rain intermittently over the past 48 hours, inundating low-lying areas.
There was knee-deep water in streets and lanes. Several houses collapsed in slums, including Kharotabad, Pashtoonabad, Qili Ismail and Saryab.
Chashma Dam near Kuchlak was washed away by hill torrents in the outskirts of Quetta. Witnesses said that water coming from the dam destroyed at least 15 houses in the area.
The provincial cabinet discussed relief measures for the rain victims and would soon make announcement in this regard.
At Sheikh Wasil a slippery road left vehicular traffic unable to move on.
Rains were also reported from Kharan, the coastal region, Lasbela, Kalat, Khuzdar, Ziarat, Pishin, Loralai, Musakhel, Duki, Chaman, etc.
PESHAWAR: In Swabi, two students were killed and 13 others injured when the roof of a mosque in Government High School, Mansafdar, caved in owing to rain that continued for hours.
Three members of a family were killed and two others injured when their house collapsed at Sarano village in Bajaur Agency.
Chitral, Swat and high lands of Kurram and Khyber agencies received heavy snowfall.
LAHORE: The rare westerly system affecting the country brought widespread heavy rain and snowfall over the hills.
Reports from Gujranwala suggested that a labourer was killed in the city and 20 people were injured in Vehari where 50 mud houses collapsed.
According to the Met office, Rawlakot received 204mm of rain between 8am to 5pm, a winter record. Astore in northern areas received 3-foot snowfall.
In Lahore, the rain was light and intermittent throughout the day but it turned heavy in the evening, introducing chill in the air.
MUZAFFARABAD: A young girl was killed and four others were injured on Monday when their house collapsed due to heavy rains that have lashed Azad Kashmir since Saturday, officials said.
Bano, 9, daughter of Mohammad Munir, was buried alive in Rara village. Her mother, grandmother and two siblings were injured in the collapse.
Layers of snow covered the mountains around the AJK capital. Reports from the valleys of Neelum and Leepa said that huge snowfall had covered those areas.
