PESHAWAR: One person was killed in rain-related incident in Peshawar as heavy downpour lashed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas on Thursday, officials said.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has put all departments and agencies concerned on high alert in Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera and others districts, following surge in water level in different tributaries of the Kabul River and streams.

The Rescue 1122 said that one person was killed when a house collapsed in Achini Bala area on the outskirts of the provincial capital. Roof of a mosque also caved in on Warsak Road while current spell of the monsoon also caused damage to houses in different localities.

The rainwater entered houses and inundated shops in low lying areas of the city and also submerged parts of University Road, Kohat Road and streets in Hayatabad.

One killed, houses and roads damaged in different districts

The Budhni Nullah and Nasar Bagh Nullah were in medium flood and authorities asked the people living in low lying areas alongside the nullahs to evacuate their houses and shift to safer places.

All water courses and streams around Peshawar were overflowing due to heavy rain which disrupted vehicular traffic.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority, quoting provincial irrigation department, said that all major rivers were flowing normal. It said that the Indus River (inflow) at Tarbela with 380,000 cusecs and outflow at Tarbela with 327,000, Kalpani Nullah at Mardan City Bughdada with 21561 cusecs were at medium flood levels.

In Charsadda, heavy rainfall caused minor damage to houses along the river banks. The inclement weather also damaged standing crops in the district. Peshawar-Tangi Road remained closed to traffic for three hours due to rain.

An official said that around 40 houses had partially damaged in Charsadda where authorities declared emergency in the main district headquarters hospital.

In Swat, torrential rains set alarm bells ringing to the areas located along the rivers and streams on Thursday.

Continuous rain in upper belt of Swat valley already sent warnings to the residential areas and agriculture fields after several villages in Gabral areas were inundated by floodwater.

“Till this moment, three houses and 150-kanal of potato fields were washed away and the water is entering many other areas,” Dr Mohammad Ali, nazim of union council Gabaral, told local journalists.

The link road connecting Kahoo village was also washed away by the flood water. “The residents of several other villages started shifting to safer areas,” said Haji Mian Sher, a resident of Gabral.

The main road connecting Gabral, Utror and other parts with Kalam and then Mingora was closed after the river overflowed while huge stones blocked the road permanently.

Similarly, torrent triggered by rain also washed away a link road in Bishbanr area of Manglawar causing trouble for the residents living in the upper areas.

In Lakki Marwat, local administration alerted the government departments to cope with emergency-like situation in case flashfloods hit the district during the recent monsoon season.

On Thursday, torrential rain lashed Lakki city and rural localities, bringing the mercury down. The people took a sigh of relief as heavy downpour and cool breeze made weather pleasant.

Sources said that army and civil administration officials and heads of government departments attended a meeting to discuss situation in case of possible flood in the rivers Gambila and Kurrum and accumulation of rainwater in low lying areas. They also discussed matters pertaining to mechanism of quick response, relief and rescue activities during flood and capacities and capabilities of state-run institutions to tackle the situation in a better way.

Deputy Commissioner Ihsanullah Khan briefed the meeting on precautionary and preventive measures the district administration had taken to minimise rain-related losses and reduce the hazards of possible floods, said an official privy to the meeting.

The meeting tasked the district heads of different departments with certain responsibilities and took several important decisions with directions to quarters concerned to implement the same in letter and spirit.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2015

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