MIANWALI: Hill torrents on Monday devastated Isakhel tehsil owing to torrential rains on surrounding mountains.

The tehsil has been cut off from the Mianwali headquarters and other parts of the country for the last 30 hours due to traffic blockade on Mianwali-Bannu Road at different places like Jalalpur, Qamar-Mushani and Tarag.

High flood in River Kurram has eroded a portion of Mianwali-Bannu Road at Jalalpur near Kalabagh. Various hill torrents of Isakhel tehsil locally known as ‘Barooch’, ‘Rakka’ and ‘Lunda’ have destroyed crops on thousands of acre land besides inundating residential localities of various mauzas.

The badly-affected mauzas of Isakhel tehsil are: Bhor Sharif, Isakhel, Tarag, Kaloor, Qamar-Mushani, Jalalpur, Langar Khel, Gharibabad, Parali Khel, Nasriwala etc.

THQ hospital staff shifted to college building

The district officials said three men and a child were killed in collapse of houses in different parts of Isakhel tehsil.

Reports say water flowed into the Isakhel Tehsil Headquarters Hospital and its residential area forcing the hospital staff and indoor patients to shift to nearby girls college building.

The four-foot deep water has damaged hospital medicines and other equipment. Doctors have temporarily set up outdoor department at the college building while the hospital authorities fetched medicines from a local medical store for patients.

Another big town of the tehsil -- Tarag -- is inundated by Rakka hill torrent. Dr. Sattar Khan of Tarag told this correspondent that not a single house was safe from water and low-lying areas were the most affected.

He said: “The hill torrents bring heaps of mud along with water resulting in traffic blockade on Mianwali-Bannu Road near Tarag.”

He said patients referred to the Mianwali DHQ Hospital could not be shifted to the infirmary due to closure of road.

Master Ahmed Khan (70) of Tarag said: “I had never seen such a heavy hill torrent in my life. The intensity of the 2010 flood was low as compared to this torrent.”

The hill torrent of Barooch has inundated basic health unit (BHU) at Kaloor Town in Isakhel and hospital staff shifted to some higher ground. The constant downpour since Saturday has also disrupted power supply, rendering pumping stations inoperative and causing shortage of drinking water in Isakhel tehsil.

The Wapda officials said many transmission line poles were hit by water and would be repaired in due course of time.

The officials of district administration along with technical staff of irrigation and highway departments have reached the flood-tossed spots to repair the damaged portion of the road and remove heaps of mud from various parts of Mianwali-Bannu Road to restore traffic.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2015

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