SIALKOT, July 28: Three people were killed in rain-related incidents in Sialkot district while flash floods in seasonal Nullah Dek inundated hundreds of acres of standing crops in 58 villages in Pasrur tehsil and Shakargarh.

Two youths — Aslam and Khalid — drowned in Nullah Aik near Lal Bridge in Rangpura on Thursday evening. They were present on the bank when they slipped into it. Their bodies could not be fished out.

Ali Jan, the son of labourer Muhammad Jan, died after the roof of the house collapsed in Muhallah Sheikhan, Sambrial.

Labourer Ghulam Rasul and his minor daughter Saba sustained serious injuries as the roof of their mud house caved in, in Punj Grayeen village, Pasrur. They were admitted to the Pasrur civil hospital in critical condition.

Sources said that dozens of mud houses in Chak Bhoonda village collapsed owing to heavy rains while scores of cattle were also swept away by falsh floods.

Five out of 40 inundated villages of Pasrur tehsil — Jang Shahi Khaki, Kot Bhoondha, Jabbokey, Nawaadey and Chak Loharaan — are badly affected by the flood.

Officials said that standing crops in Shakargarh’s 18 villages had also been badly damaged by the floodwater.

Railway officials said the railway traffic remained suspended for two hours as the main track on Sialkot-Sambrial-Wazirabad and Sialkot-Pasrur-Narowal also came under three to four feet of floodwater.

Officials informed Punjab Power Minister Armughan Subhani that the main Pasrur-Narowal Road near Qila Ahmadabad and Pasrur-Gujranwala Road were also under three to four feet of water.

Later, provincial minister Armughan Subhani, Punjab Labour and Human Resources Minister Syed Akhtar Hussain Rizvi and officials visited the flood-hit areas in Pasrur tehsil and assured the villagers that the government would extend them every help.

While affected villagers urged the Punjab government to declare their villages as calamity-hit besides announcing a compensation package.

Talking to reporters in Pasrur, Mr Subhani said that departments concerned were assessing the actual loss of life, cattle and properties in the affected villages.

Pasrur M.R Link XEN Syed Khadim Hussain Shah said the irrigation department had opened three inlets in Marala Ravi Link Canal near Malikpur (Pasrur), Baddo Malhi (Narowal) and Kotli Loharaan (Sialkot) for draining out the floodwater.

District government officials claimed that all departments concerned had already been put on high alert.

Officials at Head Marala said the water level in rivers Chenab, Tavi and Tavi Munawar and in all seasonal nullahs, including Aik, Dek, Palkhu, Bhed, Baeen and Bassanter, was soaring due to heavy rains in catchment areas.

Sialkot DCO Maj Rizwanullah Baig (retired) said rivers Chenab and Tavi near Bajwat were in medium spate.

Meanwhile, the Tehsil Municipal Administration has declared some 37 residential and commercial buildings in Sialkot as dangerous.

TMA officials told reporters that these dilapidated structures, located in congested areas, could collapse any momemt. They said that owners had been issued notices to vacate these buildings immediately to avert any loss of life.

Meanwhile, the spell of heavy rain continued in Sialkot and Narowal districts and in all catchment areas for the fifth consecutive day on Friday. The Met office recorded 88mm of rain in Sialkot district.

The rain which began early in the morning continued intermittently the whole day, inundating all low-lying areas in Sialkot, Daska, Bhopalwala, Sambrial, Head Marala, Uggoki, Bajwat, Pasrur, Satrah, Sirraanwali, Chawinda, Badiana, Shakargarh, Zafarwal, Noor Kot, Baddo Malhi, Narowal and their surrounding areas.

In Sialkot, the district jail, railway station, district courts and police lines were awash with the rainwater.

All main and link roads, including Kutchery Road, Paris Road, Railway Road, were flooded with the knee-deep water, paralysing all civic and trade activities in the city.

The Met office has forecast more heavy rains during the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in Bajwat area were stranded along the banks of River Tavi as the boat service could not be revived even after a week on account of high flood.

The small wooden belly bridge over the river near Saidpur Pattan, the only mean to cross the river, had already collapsed some 18 days back.