Monsoon havoc: Rains pile misery on Balochistan

Dozens of people left stranded by the raging floodwaters

QUETTA: Local residents retrieved on Sunday the bodies of five picnickers swept away a day earlier by a rain-triggered hill torrent at a picnic spot on the outskirts of Harnai.

On Saturday, some 20 picnickers were swept away after torrential rains lashed the area, swelling streams and submerging a large swath of territory. Two sons of a Quetta-based photo journalist were among the dead.

Meanwhile, heavy monsoon rains continued to play havoc in different areas of Lasbela district and Nasirabad division, Sibi and Harnai, causing floods in the rivers.

Nari River’s banks burst with water discharge of 34,000 cusecs. It has destroyed crops and fields in the downstream of Kachhi and Sibi plains of Balochistan.

In Lasbela district, there was mass displacement of people reported.

According to one report, more than a dozen mud houses have collapsed in Uthal, the District Headquarters of Lasbela, and its surrounding settlements, causing injuries to people. No death was reported.

Hundreds of Zaireen visiting holy places in the mountainous region of Shah Noorani have been trapped by the raging hill torrents.

On the directives of Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, commissioners and deputy commissioners have sent teams of rescue workers and ambulances to help carry out relief work in the affected areas.

The teams have been instructed to give priority to saving the lives of people trapped in floodwaters.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti told the media that government officials and Rescue 1122 teams had saved more than 54 people.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2016.