13 more killed in Karachi, Balochistan

Hundreds homeless; Broghil-Yarkhoon Road in K-P remains closed

QUETTA: Thirteen more people were killed in Karachi and different parts of Balochistan province as heavy rains continued to wreak havoc on Friday. Hundreds of people were rendered homeless as well.

Even though the rains provided a huge relief from the extremely hot and humid weather conditions on the first two days of Eid, it carried with it lethal problems of landsliding and flash flooding.



In Balochistan, at least nine people were killed and scores others suffered injuries due to flash floods triggered by heavy rains, according to the PDMA. Three people were missing as well.

The deceased were identified as Hakeem, Arbab, Sabir, Abida, Asif, Rashid and Khalid while the identity of two others could not be ascertained.

“About 130 houses were damaged and 30 heads of cattle swept away in Dera Bugti and Lasbela districts,” sources told The Express Tribune.

According to the PDMA, seven emergency centres have been established in Quetta, Sibi, Naseerabad, Zhob, Kalat and Makran to cope with the situation.

Torrential rains continued to lash parts of Balochistan – including Hub, Khuzdar, Loralai, Marri-Bugti hills, Sibi, Naseerabad, Musakhel districts – for a third running, rendering hundreds of people homeless.

The majority of the deaths were caused when roofs of the houses collapsed and mud structures were washed away. Moreover, several villages were submerged by floodwater following massive downpour in Pathar Colony of Hub.

Lasbela’s road link with other parts of the province remained cut off due to the accumulating rainwater.

Lasbela Deputy Commissioner Mujeebur Rehman Qambrani in a notification urged people to avoid travelling to mountainous regions for recreation purposes. A rain emergency centre was also established in the Uthal DC Office, with people asked to contact and report any emergency on telephone number: 085310253.

The Zhob district administration also established an emergency centre and notified 412400, 412399 and 412835 as helpline numbers.

Meanwhile, three days of rainfall in Karachi turned things topsy-turvy while four more people were killed in rain-related incidents on Friday, raising the overall death toll to 16.



All eight underpasses of the city remained closed for several hours on Friday. The underpasses were inundated with rainwater that accumulated due to poor drainage and, in some cases, poor engineering. The worst-hit was the recently inaugurated Golimar underpass, as sections of the underpass and its side roads caved in.

Several roads and streets in the city came under water, with police and Rangers personnel seen doing rescue work on Thursday night. The newly-built section of the University Road – from Hassan Square to Nipa – was also submerged.

Further north in the country, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has yet to open Broghil-Yarkhoon Road in Chitral district to join the disconnected Broghil with the rest of the country.

 

(With additional input from our correspondents in Karachi and Peshawar)