Four killed as floods devastate parts of K-P

Locals say Tank city partially submerged after flood protection wall caves in, spillways to Khanpur Dam opened

PESHAWAR: The devastation caused by heavy rains in the province continued on Thursday with at least four more rain-related deaths reported in Dera Ismail (DI) Khan in two separate incidents.

Locals told The Express Tribune that three siblings – including two minor brothers and their teenaged sister– were killed when the roof of their house caved in, in the Haji Mamora village.

In another incident, a woman was killed in the Kari Khesur area of DI Khan when her house collapsed. Two others were injured in separate incidents in the Miran Khan village.

Locals said that the bodies of the victims have been retrieved from the debris with the help of the district administration.

Floods

Torrential rains flooded large swathes of land in the Tank district and the Kulachi tehsil of DI Khan. A flood protection wall in Tank was reported to have been destroyed owing to the strong flow of waters.

As a result, nearby villages were inundated with floodwater. It forced the Tank district administration to make announcements from loudspeakers, advising residents to take refuge at elevated places. The administration town of Tank district was also reported to have at least been partially submerged.

People fleeing floods are being given shelter in government schools and other public buildings where waters have yet to reach. Locals said their crops, which were ready for harvest, have been destroyed and demanded that the provincial government should declare the district as calamity-hit and announce a special aid package for the flood-affected people.

Alarm near Khanpur Dam

Due to the torrential rains across the province, the water levels in the Khanpur Dam surpassed its maximum level, following which the spillways of the dam were opened on Thursday.

Alarms were rung in the areas around the dam and its spillways as the authorities opened the spillways to release the excess water.

Dam officials told The Express Tribune that they were in regular contact with settlements downriver, including the deputy commissioners of Rawalpindi, Attock and Haripur districts.

Weather forecast

The Met Office on Thursday said more widespread rain with thunderstorm and hailstorm is expected in Peshawar, Khyber, Charsadda, Mohmand, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan, Kohat, Orakzai, Hangu, Kurram, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan, South and North Waziristan and Tank districts. While scattered rain with thunderstorm is expected in  Malakand, Bunner, Chitral, Upper and Lower Dir, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Torghar, Kohistan, Battagram, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur districts.

Snowfall is also expected over high mountains in Chitral, Swat, Upper Dir, Shangla, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Kurram districts. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2020.