• 22 deaths reported; torrents wash away bridges, houses across province
• Three killed in Sindh; PM, NDMA chief discuss rescue efforts

PESHAWAR/KARACHI: At least 22 persons, including 10 from a single family, were killed, with several reportedly injured in accidents caused by heavy rains across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.

Heavy rains, which have been battering the province for the past couple of days, triggered landslides and flash flooding in many areas.

In Bazikhel area of Darra Adam Khel, Kohat, 10 members of a family were killed when rainwater inundated the basement of their home where they were sleeping early on Tuesday.

The victims included three women, three men and four children.

A Rescue 1122 spokesperson told Dawn the basement was filled with water when rescue teams arrived at the site.

Rescuers entered the home after demolishing the front wall and pumped out the water from the basement. However, no survivors were found. They belonged to the old Bazi Khel tribe of Darra Adam Khel.

Casualties were also reported from other parts of KP, according to the Prov­incial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) data and reports by Dawn correspondents.

Two people each were killed in Manse­hra, Lower Chitral, Bajaur, Charsadda and Lower Dir, while one person each lost their lives in Haripur and Hangu districts.

Two men died in Lower Chitral after being caught in gushing floodwater. In the Khurzg village of Yarkhoon sub-valley of Upper Chitral, villagers managed to rescue two minors who had drowned in a stream flowing in a high flood state.

Around 16 homes were washed away by the flash flood that ravaged the Golen Valley in Lower Chitral. In the nearby Mori Bala village, four houses and a mosque were destroyed.

In Brep, Khuz, Dizg and Khruzg villa­ges of Upper Chitral, several houses were damaged, leaving 63 families homeless.

The Reshun village on the left bank of Chitral river was also devastated by a flash flood in the stream flowing through its centre. The village is also eroding as the river has been swelling due to excess water flow.

A 108-megawatt hydropower station on the Golen Gol stream has also been closed, leaving Lower and Upper Chitral districts without electricity.

In Mansehra, a woman and her son were swept away in flood water. According to Kaghan police, the victim and her 14-year-old son were washed away in the Manor stream. A search for their bodies couldn’t be started because of flooding in the tributary.

The gushing water also washed away Mahandri bazaar — which was also des­troyed in the 2022 floods — and houses in the neighbouring Manor valley.

Torrential downpour, which continued in parts of Lower Dir district for more than three hours late on Monday night, flooded streams and increased the water level in the Panjkora River.

Two minors were killed in the Bosta village of Miskini Dara after a mudslide hit a house on Tuesday, according to locals.

The bodies of victims, Hameed­ullah, 8, and Junaidullah, 5, were retrieved from the debris by locals.

In Bajaur, a woman and her daughter were killed and two children wounded after their house collapsed due to heavy rain in Mamund tehsil, according to locals and Rescue 1122 officials.

The family members of Maroof Khan were sleeping in the same room of their house in the hilly area of Wara Kharki when the accident occurred.

In Charsadda, two youths drowned while swimming in the Jindi river, while a man died after being buried under the collapsed roof of his home in village council Baka.

Heavy rains also continued in Swabi, Mardan, Lower South Waziristan and Abbottabad districts; however, no casualties were reported from there.

Tourists stuck in Kaghan

Thousands of tourists have also been stranded in the Kaghan Valley after a bridge on the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road in Mahandri area was washed away.

Hotels in the area are providing free room service for tourists to spend the night, Seth Matiullah, the president of hoteliers association in Kaghan told a press conference on Tuesday.

Tourists have been stopped from entering the Kaghan Valley, District Police Officer Shafiullah Khan Gandapur told the media. He added that stranded tourists are being guided to leave the area via Chilas, Gilgit-Baltistan.

According to Deputy Commissioner Adnan Khan Battani, the National Highway Authority and other relevant departments have been directed to early rehabilitation of the bridge at the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road.

Three dead in Sindh

Several districts of Sindh also received moderate to light rainfall on Tuesday, with three casualties reported in rain-related incidents.

In Karachi, a 22-year-old and a 16-year-old were electrocuted in New Karachi and Jamshed Quarters. In Nawabshah, a man was critically injured after being hit by a lightning strike. He later died in the hospital.

Disaster preparedness

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed the National Disaster Manage­ment Authority (NDMA) to take all necessary measures to protect lives and properties during monsoon rains.

While talking to NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik over the phone, PM Shehbaz called for improved coordination with provincial disaster management authorities.

The PM also ordered expedited measures for the restoration of highways and roads affected by rains and land sliding.

The NDMA held a meeting of its National Disaster Response Committee (DRC) on Tuesday.

The meeting assessed the arrangements put in place by provinces and departments to deal with the rainfall.

The meeting, chaired by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and NDMA chairman, was also attended by PM’s Coordinator for Climate Change Romina Khursheed, according to a news release.

The officials of National Emergencies Operations Center and provincial disaster management authorities (PDMAs) briefed the meeting on the ongoing rescue efforts.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2024