70 people evacuated from flood-hit Chitral

Civil, military forces provide relief items to stranded residents

PESHAWAR: Civil and military forces on Tuesday combined their efforts to rescue around 70 people stranded in the Golen Gol area of Chitral which has been hit by a flash flood. Food and other relief items were provided to the affected people through airdrops, officials said.

The Golen Gol area of Chitral has been caught in a flash flood owing to a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) — caused by an overflow of water from glacial lakes owing to faster melting of glaciers. It has washed away bridges and roads, leaving many areas cut off from the rest of the country and stranding residents of those areas.

The flood also washed away multiple houses and cattle along with roads, said local disaster official Mujeeb Chitrali. However, the official said that there were no casualties as locals had moved to safer ground.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA)Director General Pervez Khan said that as many as 70 stranded people, including 22 patients have been airlifted to safer areas from the flood-hit parts of the Golen Gol valley. He said that edible items, medicines and other daily use products including 200 tents, 200 plastic mats, mosquito nets, gas cylinders have been dispatched to the flood-affected areas of Chitral.

PM Imran's sister Aleema Khan rescued after glacial lake outburst in Chitral

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said that the villages of Izghor, Bakra, and Golin Payen have been the worst hit with 45 to 50 houses destroyed by raging flood waters there.

Noting that the population of Golen Gol is around 4,000 individuals, Yousafzaid said that as many as “22 people have been rescued in Izghor and shifted to Chitral.”

He added that most of those who were rescued from the village were patients, pregnant women, children and elders.

“Medical teams have reached the affected areas while rescue teams are also present near the Golen Valley,” Yousafzai said.

He noted that owing to a heavy flow of water in the river, they were facing immense difficulties in relief work. However, he said that they have managed to airdrop food items, tents and other relief items to the affected using helicopters.

A pedestrian and bike path is expected to be carved out within the next 48 hours, he said, adding that they have dispatched heavy machinery to the area to repair roads.

The provincial information minister conceded that mobile systems in the area were down which was hampering communications while flood waters had also affected the Golen powerhouse, suspending power to the area.

Glacial lake outburst causes widespread flooding in Chitral’s Golen valley

He, however, warned that owing to rising temperatures, there was a risk for more glaciers melting and contributing to high water flow.

Yousafzai further said that the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA) is completely alert and engaged in relief activities.

However, some locals told The Express Tribune that the district government was busy in activities relating to the ongoing annual polo festival in Shandur while helicopters of the provincial government were also engaged there.

There were also reports that Aleema Khan, the sister of Prime Minister Imran Khan and her family were stranded in the flood-hit Izghor area due to the floods. They were evacuated to central Chitral through a helicopter.

Meanwhile, the K-P meteorological department has warned that thunderstorms, dust storms and rains in the upper and central area of the province will intensify on Wednesday and that the spell will continue until the weekend.

Moreover, owing to the current weather pattern, temperatures are expected to fall in different parts of the province which could pose a problem to tourists.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2019.