Rains, windstorms kill four in K-P

Several injured in the villages of Lower Dir as trees, hoardings and roofs collapse because of heavy rains

PESHAWAR: Four people died and several others were injured following heavy rains in scattered parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Saturday.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in its damage report said an elderly woman and a child lost their lives and three others were injured when the roof of their house collapsed in Dera Ismail Khan's Muhallah Farooqia Muryali area.

A police official there identified the owner of the house as Ehsanullah Bhatti. He said the incident occurred on Saturday morning.
“Rescue teams rushed to scene and pulled out the bodies and the injured people out of the debris," he added.

The official said the injured people were later admitted to the DI Khan District Headquarters Hospital.

The spokesperson for the PDMA said one person died and five others suffered injuries in Nowshera district when a wall collapsed on them. The injured people were shifted to a nearby hospital.

Similarly, a primary schoolteacher was killed when a wall collapsed on him in Shikoli village of Lower Dir, it was stated in a report submitted to the area's deputy commissioner.

Besides, several people in the villages of Khal, Samar Bagh, Mundan, Balambat and Talash in Lower Dir were injured when rains caused trees, hoardings and roofs to collapse.

These people were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Timergara. Strong winds accompanying the rains uprooted electricity poles, disrupting power supply to Upper Dir and Chitral.
Six people were injured in Khyber Agency in rain-related incidents.

The meteorological department said seven millimetre (mm) rain was recorded in Lower Dir and Swat, 8mm in Malamjaba, 4mm in Kalam and 2mm Balakot. Met department said partly cloudy weather is expected in most parts of the region.
Rains and thunderstorms with gusty winds are expected at scattered places in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kohistan, Battagram, Hari Pur, Torghar, Chitral, Upper Dir, Buner, Lower Dir, Swat, Shangla, Malakand districts and in tribal regions.

However, intermittent showers – of light to moderate intensity – also brought relief from the sizzling hot weather conditions in the upper and central parts of the country
The showers will help to bring down temperature by three to five degrees Celsius in plains of the country from Saturday to Monday. However, it is expected to halt the harvesting and thrashing process.
“It is expected that in some areas wet spells associated with hailstorm and wind storm will inflict significant pre- and post-harvest losses at this stage,” Meteorological Department’s Director General Dr Ghulam Rasul told The Express Tribune.
He added that April and May were usually goes usually dry months in Pakistan but this year the country had received short spells of rain during April.
“This year, we have witnessed some unusual weather events in April. At first, high temperatures in several cities set new records and now there are short rain spells,” he said, adding that the anomalous weather pattern in Pakistan is the result of climate change.

Dr Ghulam Rasul said the fresh spell of showers – started in the country from Saturday – would continue till Tuesday. He said rain and thunderstorm with gusty winds were expected at scattered places of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the tribal belt, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, Punjab and Islamabad from Saturday to Monday.
He said such showers were also expected in isolated places including Quetta, Zhob, Sibbi and Naseerabad divisions on Sunday and Monday.
“Because of this rain spell, weather at these places will remain comfortable throughout the week. However after that temperature is expected to rise again,” he said. Talking about the wind storm in Dera Ismail Khan, he said that it was not a strong windstorm as its speed was recorded at 65 km/hour