QUETTA / KARACHI / DERA ISMAIL KHAN / DERA GHAZI KHAN, Aug 4: People across the country suffered immense hardship in the wake of torrential rainfall on Saturday and Sunday morning which caused colossal damage to houses and infrastructure.

At least another 26 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents in parts of Balochistan, Karachi and Rajanpur district of Punjab with rescue efforts failing to cope with the situation which worsened by the hour.

Thousands of people were rendered homeless, especially in Balochistan, and crops over hundreds of acres were destroyed in Punjab.

The situation was worsening in five districts of Balochistan with heavy rains for about 48 hours.

Several areas were cut off from Quetta after roads were washed away and the communications system broke down.

A meeting presided over by Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad discussed ways of helping the affected people.

“Tents, blankets and food items have already been sent to the affected areas,” the chief secretary said.

He cancelled leave of employees of the irrigation department and asked them to be on alert and provide all possible help to people.

Seven more deaths were reported in Khuzdar, Turbat and Kachhi districts on Sunday, raising the number of rain-related deaths to 18.

An unspecified number of people were reported missing in Turbat.

Turbat Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hameed Abro said bodies of three women were found in River Souraap.

Mr Abro told Dawn that two men going to Turbat from Karachi on motorcycles had gone missing. “Rescue workers were searching for them,” he said.

Reports reaching Quetta said heavy flood was reported in seasonal rivers of Mekran Dash and Nihang. Mirani Dam was full and now water was passing through its spillways.

Three members of a family were killed and three others injured when the roof a house collapsed in the Naal area of Khuzdar on Sunday.

In Bolan district, a child was killed when the wall of a house fell over him in the Sunni area.

Official sources said hundreds of houses were washed away or damaged in Jhal Magsi, Gandawah after flash floods hit the area. In Nawan Killi, over 30 houses were washed away and about 100 houses were partially damaged.

A massive torrent was moving from Jhalawan’s mountains region towards the Jhal Magsi area of Kachhi district carrying around 250,000 cusecs of water.

Widespread torrential rain in most parts of Jhalawan in central Balochistan has caused heavy floods in all seasonal rivers. After heavy rains in Nal, Karakh, Wadh, Khuzdar and other adjoining areas, rivers are in high flood.

KARACHI: As the city almost paralysed by Saturday’s rain struggle to revive itself, at least 17 more people died in rain-related incidents on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 28 in two days.

Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui told Dawn that about 2,500 people had been evacuated, mostly from Malir and West districts, while some people were evacuated from district central.

Saadi Town was one of the worst-hit areas of Karachi where houses were submerged by rainwater.

Navy’s divers and rescue teams used lifeboats in Malir Cantonment, Safoora Goth and Amroha Town to take stranded people to safe places. The situation was precarious in Gadap Town where a number of houses mostly built on Thado drain were swept away.

Chief meteorologist Tauseef Alam said that an aggregate of 102 millimetres of rain had been recorded till 8am on Sunday.

Meanwhile, three people were believed to have drowned when their car fell into a storm-water drain in the Samanabad area.

Eight people, including three boys, drowned in different areas. Three others died from electrocution, while three of a family were killed when a wall of their house in PIA Housing Society collapsed.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Flash flood wreaked havoc in Kulachi Town of Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday.

Witnesses said that more than 20 houses collapsed in the Haroonabad locality after floodwater entered the town on Saturday night.

People started rescue work and evacuated women and children to safe locations.Officials said that Haroonabad, Ranazai and Zarnikhel were the worst affected areas.

Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Israrullah Khan Gandapur visited the affected areas on Sunday.

He blamed the management of Gomal Zam Dam project for the catastrophe and said that water had entered the residential area because of a poor planning. He said the issue had already been brought to the notice of the management of the project, but its design was not changed.

The minister was informed that tents and other relief items were being distributed among the affected people.

Meanwhile, water level is rising gradually in River Kabul in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has issued a fresh warning to the district administration concerned to take precautionary measures for people’s safety.

Death toll rose to 21 in KP and tribal areas while dozens of houses have been damaged completely or partially.

Flash flood also washed away one bridge in the district. Tank-Pezu Road has been opened to traffic.

The PDMA spokesman said that funds had been released and the district administration had been directed to provide all possible relief to people.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Hill torrents washed away standing crops on hundreds of acres and human settlements in the arid zone as well as in settled areas of Rajanpur district and Taunsa.

Rains over Sulaiman range have worsened the seasonal flood situation.

APP said two people drowned in Rajanpur.

Rising water level in Indus was posing a serious threat to scores of villages and farmland in Layyah district.

Although water level started receding in most flood-hit villages on Sunday, two to three feet of water was still standing in 74 villages in four tehsils of the Sialkot district.

In Lahore, the administration asked nomads settled along the banks and in the bed of River Ravi to move to safe places.

The authorities said that there were apprehensions of medium-to-high flood in Ravi if India released water because of heavy rains.