Provincial govts, NDMA put on high alert: PM Nawaz

12 people killed in K-P, 300 villages under water.

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed all provincial governments to be on high alert as 12 people were killed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) because of the torrential downpour and floods, taking the death toll to 96 in the last two weeks.

In a statement issued on Thursday, he also directed the army and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to remain vigilant and work with the civil administration in state of emergency. He appealed to the people to remain informed about the latest flood situation, assuring that all necessary measures would be in place to help them.

The Meteorological Office issued latest warnings of scattered thunderstorms with isolated heavy rainfall on Thursday in upper Sindh – mainly Sukkur and Larkana divisions – and southeast Punjab – Bahawalpur division. Heavy downpours may generate flash flooding in the vulnerable areas of Gujranwala and Lahore divisions on Friday and Saturday, the Met Office added.

Around 300 villages have been inundated by the fresh monsoon spell, according to reports.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, at least 12 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents since late Wednesday night. Four people were killed by flash floods in Tochi, North Waziristan. A political administration official said the flood deluged hundreds of acres of land, but the exact number of houses damaged by the flood could not be ascertained until this report was filed.

Meanwhile in Swabi, three teenage boys were killed by flash floods in the Badri Khawar stream. The deceased were identified as Rukhsar, 16, Amjid Ali, 16, and Suleman, 17.

Most people, who had left their houses following a flood warning a day earlier, returned to their houses in Peshawar on Thursday after the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) declared the district to be safe and invulnerable.

In Punjab, evacuation is underway in Multan, Gujranwala and Sialkot.

Emergency declared in Sindh barrages

With a renewed flood scare, emergency has been declared at all the three barrages of Sindh, with respective chief engineers and irrigation staff put on high alert.

In Sindh, the irrigation staff will be monitoring all the protective embankments, especially the Tori and Ghora Ghat bunds that had devastated most of upper and lower Sindh during the super flood of 2010. Katcha areas at both the banks of River Indus have already been inundated and hundreds of villages in Kashmore, Kandhkot, Ghotki, Sukkur and Khairpur districts have come under water. Evacuation in these villages is under way.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) Director Anwar Sial sanguinely claimed that all the protective bunds in the Pannu Aqil district, especially the Qadirpur loop bund that had survived the super flood of 2010, are in sound condition. These bunds have been fortified and now there is nothing to worry about, he explained.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2013.