Rains cause widespread damage to property in DI Khan, Kohat

Four of a family injured in roof collapse incident; no loss of life reported.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN:

Flash floods across different parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) left four people injured and several houses and roads submerged, causing widespread damage to property after heavy rainfall on Sunday.

Dera Ismail Khan district was highly affected after the Kulachi-Ruree Road, Ruree-Gara Gull Dad Road and other link roads in the area were damaged due to heavy rainfall. Banks of many link-roads were washed away and the bridge over the Baki Qamar Kandal Road was also damaged in Kulachi tehsil.

However, no loss of life has so far been reported.

“The Gomel Zam River swollen with heavy rainwater, has flooded the Kulachi tehsil of DI Khan,” an official of the district government of D I Khan told The Express Tribune.

Following the widespread loss to property, Asrarullah Gandapur, an MPA from Kulachi tehsil, has said that a survey report regarding the damage caused by the fresh floods has been sent to the district government of DI Khan and the provincial government of K-P.

Protection walls constructed for the irrigation of fields were also damaged when floodwater entered fields in different areas of Gara Gull Dad, Ruree, Maddee and Kot Walee Dad in Kulachi tehsil.

It was revealed that heavy rainfall on the mountains caused the flooding and widespread damage.

Kohat

Four people of a family were injured when the roof of their house collapsed in Sandha Fateh Khan village of Kohat following heavy rainfall in the early hours of Sunday.

Former district nazim Haji Sardar Khan said that a heavy downpour that started in the early hours of Sunday caused the flooding in the mountains due to which several houses were damaged.

Khan said that injured Khan Gul, along with his sons, was taken to a hospital where doctors said he was in a critical condition due to suffocation caused by being stuck under the debris.

Khan added that the floodwater entered the low-lying areas of Dar Malik, Hoti and Sandha Fateh Khan villages due to which several boundary walls of houses were demolished.

“Crops in those areas have been destroyed and several animals have perished,” he added.

South Waziristan

Because of landslides in the Shankai area of South Waziristan, the Gomel Zam Road was blocked and the flow of traffic between Wana and DI Khan remained suspended on Sunday.

The landslides were caused by heavy rainfall in the area, an official of the South Waziristan political administration told The Express Tribune.

Tank

The bridge at the Tank-Bannu Road, better known as Gull Iman Bridge which is being reconstructed about 6km east of Tank, also came under the floodwater coming from the mountains of South Waziristan.

Consequently, the flow of traffic between Tank and Bannu remained suspended for many hours before finally clearing away, an official of the Mullazai Police Station said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2012.