PDMA mobilises Rescue 1122 boats as rains kill four in K-P

Monsoon death toll across country hits 100; 250 stranded residents evacuated from Charsadda

PESHAWAR: Four people have been killed and several injured after heavy downpour lashed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Fata over the last couple of days, increasing the death toll to over 100 across the country this monsoon.

According to the K-P Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), two people have died in Bannu and two in Charsadda as rains have left several localities flooded in the region.

PDMA has recorded 82 millimeters of rain in Bannu district, 81 millimeters in Kohat as well as 47 millimeters in Peshawar. All three districts were badly affected with hundreds of people stranded in flash floods which entered houses causing problems for the dwellers.

Moreover, on Wednesday afternoon, the authority also stated that Chitral and Charsadda had also been badly affected by the rains, and that it had sent out four Rescue 1122 vehicles and three dewatering pumps for relief efforts.

The PDMA has also handed over 12 rubber boats to Rescue 1122 to improve response and so far 300 people have been rescued, the statement added.



In Charsadda’s Shabqadar locality, around 250 people were stranded after floodwater entered residential areas. The spokesperson for the Rescue 1122, Bilal Jalal, said special teams were dispatched with water pumps to pull out the water. These people have been evacuated to safer places, said a statement from the rescue service.



Official statistics show that 98 people had been killed and 131 injured from June 30 to July 31 across the country, 32 of the casualties were from K-P and Fata.

According to the Met department, thunderstorms with isolated heavy rainfalls were expected in scattered places in Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu and DI Khan divisions in the next 24 hours.

The PDMA has also issued a possible flash flood alert for Chitral.



In a letter to the deputy commissioner, the PDMA stated that a heatwave may persist in the area for the next five days increasing the melting of ice from the mountains. This coupled with further expected downpour could trigger glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF).

The letter asks the district administration to alert people living along waterways so as to avert human losses.

Meanwhile, three people were killed in central Orakzai Agency on August 1 when a landslide hit their vehicle, the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) said.