Six dead, 25 injured as heavy rains batter Balochistan

QUETTA: The death toll due to heavy rains which have been battering Balochistan for the last five days has risen to six leaving 25 others wounded in various incidents across the province, Geo News reported on Sunday.

The N-70 highway which connects the province to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been closed off for traffic, said the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

The PDMA further revealed that a large number of vehicles are stranded at Dhana Sar due to landsliding due to heavy rains in eastern Balochistan’s Koh-e-Suleman mountain range.

Traffic from Peshawar, Swat, Islamabad and Pindi have been instructed to stop at Dera Ismail Khan the PMD said, adding that the Zhob-DI Khan Road has been blocked at Dhana Sar due to rains in Zhob and Sherani.

Meanwhile, the administration at Zhob and Qilla Saifullah administrations have been directed to stop the flow of traffic.

Furthermore, the PMDA has said that teams have been dispatched for rescue and relief operations regarding the stranded travellers.

The downpour comes as several areas across the country namely Islamabad, Murree, Guliat, Gujranwala, Narowal, Sialkot, Balakot, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Swat are likely to witness rains today as per the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

Moreover, several areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, KP along with Balochistan’s Khuzdar, Awaran and Lasbela are likely to witness downpour as well.

Earlier this week, the Met Office had said that moist currents from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are penetrating southern and eastern parts of the country with thundershowers with gusty winds are making their way in parts of Sindh and other provinces.

This is not the first time in 2024 that Balochistan has reported heavy rains resulting in loss of life and landsliding as April earlier this year, a rain and flood emergency was declared by the provincial government due to continuous heavy rains which battered different districts of Balochistan, killing and injuring several people.

Prior to that, the province’s port city Gwadar was battered by torrential rains in March prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce a relief package during his visit to the inundated city where moe than 40 people were killed in various incidents due to heavy rains.