QUETTA/DG KHAN: As a fresh spell of monsoon rains continued to lash parts of Pakistan, especially Balochis­tan, at least six more deaths were reported on Sunday — four in Lasbela and two in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan district — whereas hundreds of people remained stranded after losing their houses to the floods.

Lasbela DPO Dostain Dashti told Dawn that the dead bodies of four unidentified individuals who were swept away were fished out from Hub River which was experiencing high floods due to torrential rainfall in its catchment areas. The bodies were handed over to the Edhi foundation, he added. The death toll in Balochistan reached 194 after the recovery of four more bodies.

Meanwhile, two brothers, aged 13 and 11, were drowned when their village in Tuman Buzdar was hit by torrents from Suleman Range mountains in Taunsa, Dera Ghazi Khan. As a result of the deluge, people living in rural parts of DG Khan and Rajanpur had started moving to higher ground for safety.

Four bodies fished out from Hub River, two siblings swept away in DG Khan flash floods

Floods in Balochistan

Several districts of Balochis­tan remained submerged due to floods leaving hundreds of people stranded in the Kohlu, Lehri, and Barkhan districts of the province.

Officials said Kohlu received heavy rains throughout Saturday night which flooded a major part of the district, forcing scores of people to leave their homes as the floodwater entered many villages and destroyed their houses made of mud. Seasonal rivers in Kohlu overflowed which washed away several roads disconnecting dozens of villages with the district headquarters.

“We have no access to these inundated villages as mountainous areas of Kohlu district continued to receive heavy downpour the entire night,” Kohlu Deputy Commissioner Qurban Magsi told Dawn. Due to the heavy downpour, hundreds of people, including women and children, were stranded in the affected areas; however, some families managed to reach safe places.

Read: Rain disaster

“There is destruction on a massive scale in flood-affected villages of Kohlu. People have lost their homes and other belongings in the floodwater,” a senior Levies official in Kohlu told this correspondent over the telephone.

In Lehri, the river overflowed and water entered at least eight villages, sweeping away mud houses and forcing many families to stay under the open sky. So far, they have not been rescued by the authorities concerned.

“The Lehri River is carrying 134,000 causes of floodwater and the water flow was constantly increasing due to incessant rainfall,” a senior official of the Irrigation department said. The Lehri River would also hit Nasirabad district and Rabi Canal near Dera Murad Jamali.

“Due to floods, livestock and other household items of the villagers were washed away, “Mir Durak Domki, an elder of the Domki tribe, said. The situation in Jhal Magsi and Gandawah district started to look bleak once again after a fresh spell of rainfall.

In Nasirabad, heavy rains were continuing for the last eight hours which wreaked havoc in the region and damaged the houses as well. “We are making all out efforts to save the affected people,” Muhammad Hussain, the deputy commissioner of Nasirabad said.

Meanwhile, the road link between Balochistan and Sindh through Quetta-Karachi and Khuzdar-Ratodero could not be restored despite a passage of 48 hours after a fresh spell of rainfall washed away big portions of both highways – Tariq Saeed Birmani in DG Khan also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2022