PESHAWAR: Three people, including a minor girl, were killed in Karak and Haripur districts on Saturday as rains lashed parts of the province.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said Khalid Usman and Safira Jan, the residents of Takhti-i-Nasrati area in Karak district, were swept away in flash floods.

However, five people were rescued.

Met office warns about flash floods, landslides in some districts

A three-year-old girl died of critical injuries after the dilapidated roof of a mud house collapsed in Mohra Kalanwan area of Haripur district.

Three girls, who were also studying in a room, were also injured in the incident, which occurred in the morning.

The family said the injured girls were stable.

Meanwhile, the rainwater flooded several major roads of the provincial capital causing traffic jams to the misery of motorists, motorcyclists and commuters.

The University Road was worst hit by traffic mess due to the absence of proper drainage system.

A large part of the city’s major artery went under several feet deep water. Many vehicles and motorcycles broke down forcing drivers to push them through rainwater.

The residents of several low-lying areas as rainwater entered their houses.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan expressed annoyance at the flooding of major roads and ordered the relevant authorities to ensure water drainage for the early traffic restoration.

In a statement issued here, the CM directed the Water and Sanitation Service Peshawar, Peshawar Development Authority and town administrations to take steps without delay to improve the situation.

He flayed the faulty drainage system and directed authorities to take corrective measures.

The CM said action would be taken against those responsible for designing faulty drains as that led to the flooding of roads.

He said Peshawar was heart of the province, so the government would take all possible steps to improve its infrastructure.

The PDMA said the Pathargali Kukmong Road in Abbottabad district was blocked by landslides.

In Landi Kotal, four houses were damaged and a trailer was swept away in flash floods caused by heavy downpour.

Officials said an Afghanistan-bound trailer loaded with cement bags was swept away in flash floods when the driver crossed a water channel in Sultankhel area. The residents pulled the driver out of the trailer.

Most water channels overflowed suspending traffic on the main Peshawar-Torkham Highway for many hours.

Also, the roof of a house collapsed in Nekkikhel area. However, no damage to public life was reported as the residents vacated the premises few days ago.

Three more houses were partially damaged in Sultankhel and Khugakhel areas.

The boundary wall of a house collapsed in Khuga Khel damaging a vehicle.

The heavy rain also caused a major portion of the boundary wall of the Customs Residential Colony to collapse.

The Pakistan Metrological Department said Peshawar received the most rain in the province measuring 27mm on Saturday morning, while 20mm rainfall was recorded in Cherat, 17mm in Balakot, 15mm in Bannu, 10mm in Dera Ismail Khan, 9mm in Kakul and 3mm in Malam Jabba.

It forecast partly cloudy and humid weather in most parts of the province in the next 24 hours.

The PMD, however, said rains coupled with wind and thunderstorm were likely to fall in scattered places of Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Haripur, Torghar, Malakand, Chitral, Bajaur, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Buner, Swat, Shangla, Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera districts and in isolated places of Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Kurram, Orakzai, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and South Waziristan tribal districts.

It warned that isolated heavy rainfall could generate flash floods in Battagram, Torghar, Shangla and Mansehra districts during the period, while landslides in vulnerable areas of those districts couldn’t be ruled out.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2019