Weather havoc: Rain, high winds leave 15 more dead in Peshawar
At least 54 others injured in rain-related incidents, power supply disrupted
PESHAWAR:
Torrential rain coupled with gusty winds swept through neighbourhoods in Peshawar late Thursday and Friday, killing at least 15 people and injuring 54 others.
Met Office director Mushtaq Ali Shah said heavy rainfall and high winds — blowing at 50 nautical miles per hour (an estimated 75 kilometres per hour) — caused most of the damage, uprooting trees and billboards by the roadside.
“It is called an interaction of warm and cold weather fronts or frontal-weather activity, which develops within minutes and is unusual in occurrence,” he explained, adding that the rainfall was recorded at 16 mm but the wind and thunder as well as hailstorms resulted in most of the damage.
At least six people identified as Yasmin, Ahmad, Fatima, Sohail, Abdur Rehman and Nazo were killed in separate roof and wall collapses in Kochai Abad area of Karkhano Market. The bodies were brought to Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) in addition to the 26 injured people.
Another body of a six-year-old boy, Sajid, who was a resident of Badhaber, was brought to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH). He was killed after a wall collapsed.
Similarly, a family of five, including Muhammad Tariq, his wife and three children lost their lives when their vehicle fell into a canal in Nasir Bagh area.
“Their family started looking for them after they went missing. These people were found dead inside their car in the morning,” said an official of the local Nasir Bagh police station.
“They went for shopping and were on their way back home when the storm reduced the visibility to a level that probably the driver was unable to see the road and the vehicle fell into the nearby canal,” he told The Express Tribune.
Identities of others killed in storm-related incidents could not be ascertained.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2014.
Torrential rain coupled with gusty winds swept through neighbourhoods in Peshawar late Thursday and Friday, killing at least 15 people and injuring 54 others.
Met Office director Mushtaq Ali Shah said heavy rainfall and high winds — blowing at 50 nautical miles per hour (an estimated 75 kilometres per hour) — caused most of the damage, uprooting trees and billboards by the roadside.
“It is called an interaction of warm and cold weather fronts or frontal-weather activity, which develops within minutes and is unusual in occurrence,” he explained, adding that the rainfall was recorded at 16 mm but the wind and thunder as well as hailstorms resulted in most of the damage.
At least six people identified as Yasmin, Ahmad, Fatima, Sohail, Abdur Rehman and Nazo were killed in separate roof and wall collapses in Kochai Abad area of Karkhano Market. The bodies were brought to Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) in addition to the 26 injured people.
Another body of a six-year-old boy, Sajid, who was a resident of Badhaber, was brought to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH). He was killed after a wall collapsed.
Similarly, a family of five, including Muhammad Tariq, his wife and three children lost their lives when their vehicle fell into a canal in Nasir Bagh area.
“Their family started looking for them after they went missing. These people were found dead inside their car in the morning,” said an official of the local Nasir Bagh police station.
“They went for shopping and were on their way back home when the storm reduced the visibility to a level that probably the driver was unable to see the road and the vehicle fell into the nearby canal,” he told The Express Tribune.
Identities of others killed in storm-related incidents could not be ascertained.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2014.