7 bodies recovered in Balochistan

13,000 mud houses have been damaged or destroyed in torrential rains

QUETTA:

Rescue workers in Balochistan found seven more dead bodies swept away in flash floods on Saturday, pushing the total death tally to 127 so far.

These bodies were found in Noshki, Lasbela, Chaghi and Zhob districts.

Pak Army, Frontier Corps and the rescue workers from the PDMA rescued thousands of stranded people in the Lasbela and Jhal Magsi districts of Balochistan.

Pak Army personnel have been using boats to evacuate stranded people and shift them to safe places.

Army helicopters are also engaged in rescue and relief operations across the province.

Floods have also damaged over 13,000 mud houses in Quetta, Pishin, Jaffarabad, Khuzdar, Kohlu, Barkhan, Lasbela and Jhal Magsi.

“We are trying hard to reach all flood-affected people,” PDMA head Naseer Ahamad Nasar told The Express Tribune.

Flooding also caused the suspension of train service between Pakistan and Iran as various portions of railway track were washed away by floods, an official of the Balochistan Home and Tribal Affairs Department said.

Once in a week, Pakistan operates a freight train to neighboring Iran.

Tracks are damaged because of heavy rainfall near Ahmedwal, Dalbandin, Yek Mach, and other parts of Balochistan.

“Railways technical staff is engaged in the repair of the track,” an official of the Pakistan Railways said.

The National Highway Authority (NHA) claimed to have reopened traffic between Quetta and Karachi highways on Saturday afternoon. Light traffic has been restored on the Quetta-Karachi highway, the Spokesman NHA said in a statement.

He said traffic was also restored on all highways linking Balochistan with other provinces and neighboring countries including Afghanistan and Iran.

Damage in Kohlu district

Deputy Commissioner Kohlu Qurban Ali Magsi on Saturday said that a total of 1,430 families had been affected in the recent monsoon rains in Kohlu district, while four people died and ten were injured in the district.

He said that the damage done in other districts was much more compared to Kohlu, where the rains claimed four deaths in total, including three in Tambo tehsil and one in Mawand tehsil.

Meanwhile, 10 persons including six children and four adults were injured in the recent rains.

Talking to media persons at his office in Kohlu, the deputy commissioner said that a total of 1,430 families had been affected in the recent monsoon rains in the district, while 723 houses had been partially damaged and 59 had been completely destroyed.

Moreover, 109 water bores, 2,636 solar panels, 1,442 acres of cotton, 1,472 acres of vegetables and 70 acres of tomato crop had been destroyed due to the rains, he added.

Talking about the livestock, Qurban said that 1,488 goats, 1,340 sheep and 70 cows were killed in the entire district.

The Kohlu to Puja, Thodari Roads were fully damaged and needed to be repaired, while Kohlu to DG Khan and other small link roads were partially damaged, he added.

Explaining the details of the food and relief packages, he said that the PDMA had sent them 150 shelter tents, 150 kitchen accessories packs, and 112 tents and other relief items, besides a fund of Rs 2.5 million.

The necessary items had already been delivered to the affected families in different areas, while the rest had been kept for emergency purposes, because the rains had not yet stopped in the areas, he added.

The deputy commissioner further said that there were some dangerous or vulnerable spots where they made the protection walls stronger on an emergency basis so that there would be no loss of life or property due to high flow of water.

(With additional inputs from APP)

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2022.