Many die in rain-induced roof collapses

RAWALPINDI/ PESHAWAR:

Torrential rains of the outgoing winter season continued in northern and central Pakistan, causing mud-houses to collapse and seasonal drains to overflow and threaten to swamp human settlements on their banks. A 12-member family was trapped underneath tons of rubble when a double-storey residential building collapsed in Wah, near Rawalpindi, Monday night.

The family had rented the building located on the main Grand Trunk Road, near Gate No 3 of Wah Cantt. Residents rushed to rescue the trapped family on a self-help basis as Rescue 1122 staff could not reach the spot nearly two hours after the incident. Some members of the family were pulled out alive from the debris while rescue efforts were ongoing by the time this report was filed.

In Rawalpindi, meanwhile, relentless downpour forced the district administration to declare a ‘near emergency’ by nightfall. DCO Sajid Zafar Dal said the water level at Nala Leh had reached 14 feet. “I’ve ordered for alert sirens to be rung,” he added. “Evacuation is ordered when the water level reaches 20 feet, but we hope things do not reach that point as there is a four-hour rain break forecast.”



The military’s media wing, the ISPR, said in a press release, that army troops have been alerted to respond to any flood-related emergency in Rawalpindi and assist in possible rescue efforts for residents of low-lying areas.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining tribal regions, at least seven people were killed and five injured in rain-related incidents. A woman and her two nephews died when the roof of their mud-house collapsed in Sando Khel village, in the Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency, Monday morning, according to the local administration. Residents and levies personnel pulled out another two persons alive from the rubble.

In another incident, the roof of a Frontier Constabulary check post caved in to heavy rain in the Mattani area, on the edge of Peshawar, Monday night. Four FC personnel were killed and three injured.

Dr Ghulam Rasul, the chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said the rains, which began end-February, were unusual for this time of the year. “It is almost after nine years that we are witnessing rain in February and March. The weather pattern has been influenced by climate change,” he told The Express Tribune.

“The intensity [of rain] will reduce from Tuesday morning,” he said but added that another spell of heavy rain is expected from March 8 for a couple of days along with heavy snowfall in the hilly areas.


Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2015.