Flash floods: Rains wreak havoc in Balochistan

Residents move to higher ground as outfall drains breach their banks.

QUETTA: To avoid loss of human lives, people moved to higher ground as heavy rains and flash floods wreaked havoc in different parts of Balochistan, sweeping away household items and damaging crops and infrastructure.

This time around as well, outfall drains breached their banks in Choki Jamali and Sohbatpur in Jaffarabad after being hit by hill torrents from different directions, inundating the fields, crops and fertile land. Residents, political leaders and members of the parliament complained that the government had failed to repair the broken banks of the outfall drains, despite a one-year lapse.

The Met Office predicted more heavy rains in eastern parts of Balochistan which were devastated in last year’s torrential rains and floods.

The provincial government has set up emergency control rooms in Loralai, Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Jaffarabad and other areas to cope with the situation that arose after heavy rains turned into flash floods.

Two children were killed and three others sustained injuries as the roof of a mud house collapsed in the Nasirabad area of Loralai, while two other children were killed in Duki due to a mud house collapsing on Thursday.

A survey has been conducted to determine the losses caused by the heavy rains in Loralai, and a state of emergency has been declared and teams of doctors, along with medicines, are arriving at the rain-affected areas,” said Sohail Rehman Baloch, Deputy Commissioner, Loralai.

The low-lying areas of Loralai were also submerged and power supply to many townships remained disrupted.

Four houses and a seminary collapsed, while the walls of around 12 mud houses fell as a result of the heavy rains in Mullahkhail area of Kalat. People evacuated the Mullahkhail area and other small human settlements and moved towards higher ground to protect themselves from the flash floods. The rainwater also entered schools, government offices and hospitals, while the flash flood washed away roads, disrupting the road link between several townships, making rescue efforts difficult.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2011.