Eight killed in rain related incidents in Islamabad, K-P

A large tract of forest and agricultural land washed away near Chitral city

PESHAWAR: Heavy downpour on Wednesday flooded parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa (K-P), upper Punjab and the federal capital, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens. With these casualties, the total death toll in Pakistan due to current monsoon rains rose to 105.

Three children reportedly died in Islamabad after roof of a house collapsed at the Allah Ditta Brick Kiln near Benazir Chowk at the capital’s Tarnol area. In another related incident, a girl was killed and four other members of her family sustained injuries in the suburbs of Jhelum on Wednesday.

Reports related to floods issued by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said four people also died in flashfloods in the K-P’s Charsadda and Bannu districts.



Charsadda’s Shabqadar Bazar was also badly affected with traders facing loss of commercial properties. In Bannu, flashflood caused damage to the houses at village Sorani in Suba Khel tehsil and killed two people.

According to Rescue 1122 which deputed teams in Charsadda’s Shabqadar tehsil to rescue the stranded people, more than 500 people were stuck in their houses after floodwater entered their residences.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Rescue-1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi said residents of Dheri Bazar, Matta, and Atkay, Katozai Road, and FC colony, had been rescued.

“More than 40 rescue personnel were dispatched from Peshawar and Mardan to shift the stranded people – including elders, women and children – to the safer places,” Faizi said. “Equipment including four heavy dewatering pumps, six boats and two water rescue vans were used in the rescue operation.”



In Peshawar, water gathered on major arteries causing traffic jams. Some parts of the city also plunged into darkness and people spent the whole night without electricity.

Meanwhile, a large tract of forest and agricultural land was washed away in an area at a 5-hour drive from the Chitral city.  “The population is vulnerable and villagers have been warned to vacate their houses and to move to safer places,” said Chirtal’s Union Council Nazim Safaid Arkari,.

Earlier, the PDMA had reported that owing to rainfall and flashfloods Shandur Road at Laspur area   Mahthing Road at Shahidas Nullah were blocked for all kind of traffic.

In a letter to Chitral’s deputy commissioner, the PDMA said a heat wave 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 asked the district administration to alert people living along waterways so as to avert human losses. Station House Officer Harchan Qurban Ali told media that Gilgit-Chitral road had been blocked due to land sliding. He said it would take many days to clear the road for traffic owing to lack of equipment.

The PDMA has recorded 82 millimeters of rain in Bannu district, 81 millimeters in Kohat and 47 millimeters in Peshawar. All the three districts are badly affected with hundreds of people stranded due to flooding of their houses. Three people were killed in central Orakzai Agency on August 1 when a landslide hit a vehicle, the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) said.

According to the new monsoon situation report – released by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA ) – a total of 108 people have reportedly died across Pakistan since June 26.

The highest number of causalities have been reported in Punjab where the death toll has reached 35, followed by 26 of Balochistan, 19 of K-P,  16 of tribal areas, six of Sindh and six of Islamabad.

[WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN ISLAMABAD]