TIMERGARA: Heavy rain coupled with hailstorm caused floods late on Saturday night, wreaking havoc in parts of Lower Dir, especially in Talash, Balambat and Timergara, officials and local residents said on Sunday.

In Kat Kalay area of Talash, floodwater washed away two houses, while a part of government primary school, Kal Pani, office of a non-governmental organisation, and a few houses were also damaged.

Similarly, floodwater entered houses at Kalpani Talash, damaging household items and other valuables. Residents said that heavy rain coupled with hailstorm continued for over three hours. They said floodwater came from upper parts of Talash that ruined several houses and shops in Kat Kalay.

An NGO official said that floodwater washed away cross cheques worth Rs1.8 million meant for payment of salary to the staff of basic education community schools.

He said that records of several ongoing projects, including Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment, two laptops, hard disks, computers, white boards and stationary had also been swept away by floods.

The affected people said that no lawmaker or government official bothered to visit the flood hit areas. Lajbar Khan, former tehsil president of Awami National Party, said that inmates of the damaged houses were shifted to the residences of relatives.

He said it was the second time that people of Kat Kalay had been badly affected by floods.

Similarly, severe hailstorm on Saturday night also destroyed standing crops, fruit orchards and vegetables in different areas of Talash. The rainwater also flowed on roads as drains remained choked.

Local residents said that several link roads in the area were also blocked due to landslides, and demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and local administration to send teams for proper assessment of losses and pay compensation to the affected people.

Published in Dawn, September 29th , 2014