Road submerged in rainwater at Rahman Baba Chowk. PHOTOS: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/EXPRESS
Continued rains brought with them tragedy and misfortune in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as eight people were killed and nine injured in separate incidents on Wednesday and late Tuesday night.
Widespread rain continued across the province, including Peshawar which received 40mm of rain. The downpours throughout the day damaged property and crops in various parts of the province.
A man was killed by a mudslide in Kaghan Valley, locals said. Police said Ilyas, 32, from Ghanol Village was excavating for earth to use on the roof of his mud house when the incident took place. He was pulled out after half-an-hour and taken to the hospital, but succumbed to his injuries before treatment.
Rain continued to lash Hazara Division for a third consecutive day and landslides, coupled with snowfall, suspended traffic on Kaghan Road near Ghanol.
In Swat, tragedy struck as three people drowned in a flooded stream in Mandal Daag area of Gwalerai, Matta tehsil late on Tuesday.
Police said 13-year old Habibullah was crossing a makeshift wooden bridge which collapsed into the stream. When his brother Mohammad Khan and uncle Azam Khan jumped in to save him, they were unable to stay afloat and ultimately all three of them drowned. Locals have recovered the bodies of the victims.
For the fourth day in a row, Swat was witness to heavy rains which are likely to continue till Friday.
Over in Bannu, a mother and daughter were crushed in Sirak Bodin Khel area of Domail tehsil when the roof of a house caved in during heavy rain and hailstorm.
Hawaldar’s six-year-old granddaughter and daughter-in-law Rozida Bibi, wife of Rahimullah, were dead by the time they were pulled out of the rubble.
A similar incident took place in Orakzai Agency where a woman and her one-year-old son were crushed by a collapsing roof. A political administration official said the wife and son of Qamar Zaman were asleep in a room of their house in Saam village when the roof caved in at around 2am.
The official said other family members were awoken by the commotion and they pulled the bodies of the mother and son out of the debris with the help of neighbours.
Across in Kurram Agency, nine people, including children, were injured when lightning struck a house in Bagan area.
Road submerged in rainwater at Rahman Baba Chowk. PHOTOS: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/EXPRESS
A political administration official said the house was hit by lightning at 8am during the heavy rain. He said the injured included Abdur Rehman, Munir Khan, Muhammad Bilal, Namreen, Noreen, Muhammad Mustafa and three others; all of whom belonged to the same family. The official added the victims were rushed to the Tall THQ hospital.
Meanwhile, a hailstorm accompanied by rainfall destroyed crops on hundreds of acres of land in Domail tehsil of Bannu. The weather damaged vehicles, the power distribution system, homes and the makeshift shelters of displaced people from North Waziristan residing in IDP camps. People removed heaps of hail from their roofs, while cattle were killed in some parts of the district. In Shangla district, torrential rain caused landslides which damaged the hujra of the Chati Khel tribe in Lasor area, while locals fled their homes for safer ground.
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) officials told The Express Tribune that periodic rain accompanied by thunderstorms continued till the evening and would affect the entire province over the next 24 hours. Moreover, heavy rain has been lashing Kurram and Orakzai Agency for the last two days, lowering the temperature and limiting people to their homes. Routine activity has ground to a halt as the region is inadequately equipped to deal with such weather conditions.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2015.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ