Nature’s fury: Standing crops swept away by overflowing Swat River

DC directed them to begin construction of protection walls in high-risk areas.

MINGORA:

Several acres of standing rice crop as well as peach orchards were destroyed in Swat district on Friday after the Swat River overflowed.

Hundreds of families living along Swat River evacuated their houses and shifted their valuables to higher ground to avoid any other major losses. Sultanabad, Sherabad and Khwarey Kotey areas near Mingora, and Koza and Bara Bama Khela areas in Matta tehsil were reportedly affected by the flooding.

According to locals, several peach orchards and rice fields were swamped.

Abdullah, a resident of Imam Dheri, said the 2012 floods washed away all protection walls and since then there is the constant threat of losses when the water rises in the Swat River during summer. “This time we even informed the elected representatives of possible flooding, but no arrangements were made to tackle the issue,” he added.

People who live along the river mainly depend on agriculture but according to them, since the 2010 floods washed away the protection walls, every year the river swells up and their standing crops are swept away.

“There are no protection walls on either side of the river and our agricultural lands are never safe,” said Jamal Zeb, a farmer.

Swat Deputy Commissioner Mahmood Aslam Wazir visited the affected areas and directed the local administration to take immediate relief measures.

He also directed them to begin construction of protection walls in high-risk areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2014.