Calamity strikes again: Torrential rain in K-P leaves six dead, nine injured

Load-shedding increases, agricultural fields damaged, mud walls collapse

LANDIKOTAL/ CHARSADDA: At least six people died and nine people were injured after strong winds and heavy rains lashed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This resulted in flashfloods and caused a large number of roofs and walls of houses to collapse.

Apart from loss of life, agricultural fields were damaged and outages increased, wreaking chaos in places that were already suffering from the menace of harsh weather.

Washed away

Four women of a family died and two others were injured during widespread flashfloods that were triggered by heavy rainfall in Loi Shalman, Landikotal.

According to locals, six people were travelling in a car in Loi Shalman area on Tuesday night when their vehicle was washed away in floods that was soon followed by heavy rain and hailstorm.

Four women – Waris Yousaf Khel’s wife and his three daughters– were killed while two passengers, Maryam and Yousaf, were rescued by locals and rushed to the hospital where doctors said they are in stable condition.

Structures damaged

According to officials and locals, two people died and seven others injured in various areas of Charsadda on Tuesday night.

A woman, along with her five-year-old son, was killed while two women and two men were injured when a thunderstorm caused the roof of their house to collapse in Para Jaranda area of Tangi, Charsadda.

The woman and her son were crushed under the debris of the broken roof and succumbed to their injuries on the way to the hospital.

Extreme weather conditions also caused the wall of a house to collapse in Turangzai, injuring a man and his wife. Both of them were rushed to the hospital in Tangi where they were admitted.

Solar panels, which are used excessively in Charsadda district because of continuous and prolonged load-shedding, broke away from their installments when heavy rain and strong wind engulfed many areas.

In Haleemzai area of Shabqadar, a woman was injured when one of the solar panels hit her on Tuesday night.

Accentuating misery

The destructive weather also caused mud walls of many houses to fall and created havoc in many agricultural fields and fruit and vegetable gardens, particularly those of strawberries.

The storm also increased suffering of locals when Pesco officials in Shabqadar and Tangi increased their load-shedding to 20 to 22 hours at a time when solar panels and power batteries were damaged by thunderstorms.

During the last 24 hours, Dir has received 34 millimetres of rain, Cherat 10 mm and Kohat eight mm.

While hot and dry weather is expected in plain areas of the province, more rain and thunderstorms with strong gusty winds and light rains are expected in different places including, Peshawar, Bannu, Nowshera Malakand, Hazara, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu and DI Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2016.