Wrath of weather: Deluge washes away 16 houses in Lakki Marwat

Flash floods hit Chitral yet again

CHITRAL/ PESHAWAR: At least 16 houses in Lakki Marwat were washed away while 25 others in the district were partially damaged by the deluge and flash flood across the province Monday evening and night.

Although the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Peshawar region authorities gave a forecast for wet weather; PMD and rescue and relief bodies of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had no idea of the intensity of the inclement weather. PMD has no observatory in Lakki Marwat and its officials were clueless about the magnitude of rain in the district when contacted.

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PMD Peshawar Director Mushtaq Shah told The Express Tribune the intensity of the rain was unexpected. “It was a western weather system that entered from Iran and Afghanistan, and high intensity rain is not the property of western weather system.” He described the rain as being extreme and said the current weather system would prevail for another day in K-P but would only affect Malakand and Hazara divisions; it is also likely to cause snowfall.

However, relief activities are under way in the affected areas of the district; this was stated in a report sent by Lakki Marwat DC Ihsanullah Khan to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). It stated the houses that had been washed away were situated in Multan Manjiwala area of the district.

When contacted, PDMA Spokesperson Latifur Rehman said they were in contact with the district administration which will send a damage assessment report. The authority will give compensatory aid on the basis of the report.

A met official at the PMD Peshawar office said they recorded 10mm rainfall in Peshawar, 59mm in Patan area of Kohistan, 52mm in Balakot, 35mm each in Kohat and Dir and 41mm in Malam Jabba.

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Lights out

The rain accompanied by strong winds damaged Peshawar Electric Supply Company transmission lines in parts of Cantonment, University Road and Hayatabad in the city. People were without power Monday night and throughout Tuesday.

Pesco Spokesperson Shaukat Afzal confirmed 28 feeders had tripped during the rain and winds due to cable faults and short circuits. However, he said all the feeders had been subsequently repaired and power supply was restored in the day.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2015.