Floods fury claims 51 more lives in Pakistan

PESHAWAR/ SUKKUR: More heavy rains and floods continued ravaging different regions of the country especially Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa districts on Friday, claiming at least 51 more human lives – 42 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and nine in Sindh, and causing destruction to hundreds of houses and other buildings.

Electricity, gas and communication means were disrupted in Swat region of KP, various parts of Balochistan and Punjab. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Sukkur region of Sindh, directly interacted with the flood victims and announced Rs15 billion grant for those affected by the natural calamity across country. 

At least 42 more people were killed in different parts of KP, particularly in Malakand, Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan divisions on Friday. Reports pouring in from Mansehra said 10 people, including three women and a child, drowned in Balakot tehsil. Eleven people including four men and the same number of women and three children drowned in the Dubair and Pattan areas of Lower Kohistan in flash floods.

The district police officer, Lower Kohistan, Zulfiqar Jadoon, said that floodwater swept away buildings and shops in Dubair and Pattan bazaars. “Ten people have drowned and there might have been a big human tragedy had we not shifted the people living at riversides in Pattan and Dubair to safer areas,” Jadoon said. He said that the search for bodies of four people, who were swept away by floodwater in Dubair stream a day earlier, was also in progress.

A hotel and shops were swept away in Pattan in Kohistan besides damaging the Karakoram Highway. In Mansehra, dozens of shops and business centres were washed away in the Mahandri bazaar at Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road in Kaghan valley after a bridge collapsed and water entered the small town. The locals escaped the tragedy rushing out of the area in panic after the floodwater taking mega rocks and giant trees entered the Mahandri area of Kaghan valley.

“We have fished out 10 bodies, including three women and a child from Kunhar River,” Basharat Bibi, the assistant commissioner of Balakot, told reporters. The Balakot tehsil administration, fearing floods and fatalities, closed down the public and private schools across the tehsil and in Kaghan valley.

According to the district administration, five people were killed in rain and flood-related incidents in Lower Dir. The floods swept away dozens of hotels, shops, houses, etc, in Kalam, Bahrain of Swat, Lower and Upper Dir, Kohistan and Dera Ismail Khan. Officials said at least 15 people lost their lives in flood and rain-related incidents in the Swat district.

Heavy floods caused damage to billions of rupees properties besides damaging bridges, roads, parks and markets, hotels, restaurants, schools buildings, vehicles and other properties in the affected districts.

The floods also washed away several hotels, including one of the biggest hotels, and shops in scenic Kalam valley. The floods also raised to ground hotels and shops in Bahrain along Daral Khwar and Kalam road, prompting the provincial government to announce a rain emergency in Swat. The Road network between Bahrain and Kalam was cut off leaving a number of tourists stranded. About 130 kilometres of road and 12 bridges were swept away by the gushing water in Swat. A government school and hatchery were also submerged in Bahrain.

Floodwater damaged roads and blocked traffic, disconnecting many areas in Swat, Dir and other districts of the KP. The road link between Dir and Kumrat was also disrupted. According to the Irrigation Department, water flow in Swat River at Khwazakhela remained 227,899 cusecs while in Panjkora River water flow was 140,000 cusecs about 10,000 cusecs higher than the 2010 floods.

A bridge connecting Wari-Chapar in Upper Dir and Japan Bridge in Khal, Lower Dir fell victim to the flood. According to the Lower Dir administration, report about five dozen houses, hotels, shops, etc destroyed and electricity poles of the 11-kV line were swept away besides damage to bridges and roads. Though the district administrations were on alert and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) had also issued an alert to the administration in Swat, Lower and Upper Dir, Malakand, Mohmand, Charsadda, Mardan, Peshawar and Nowshera, the absence of elected public representatives was felt with anger among the affectees.

Flood water entered houses in Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera as the water level rose in the rivers and an emergency was declared. The population along riversides in all the flood-hit districts have been asked to shift to safer places as the Met Office predicts more rain on Saturday (today).

In DI Khan, the torrential flood torrents inundated approximately 20 per cent of urban areas and 80 per cent of rural areas in the district, including the airport. According to reports, the Warren Canal also suffered damages and breeches at certain points during the week-long flooding.

In Buner, a 16-year-old boy, Niaz Ali, was killed when the roof of a house collapsed under rain which had hit the Buner district for the last three days. The incident was reported from Ambela village.

The landsliding caused by rain damaged a portion of the road in the Sher Ali area which cut off the land link between the Buner and Torghar districts. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that every rain-affected household in Sukkur would be given Rs25,000 under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). During his visit to Sukkur on Friday, he expressed satisfaction over the measures taken for flood relief by the Sindh government.

Deputy Commissioner Sukkur and the representatives of the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA) briefed the prime minister about the ongoing work for relief of the flood-stricken people and rehabilitation of the infrastructure at relief camp government comprehensive High School Shikarpur road in Sukkur. PM interacted with the flood-affected people to review the ongoing relief and rehabilitation works in a relief camp.

Addressing the media, the premier said, “Pakistan witnessed one of the worst floods back in 2010. However, this flood is even more devastating. The recent rains left 900 people dead throughout the country.” He announced one million rupees compensation for the families of each dead. The PM said Rs28 billion would be distributed among the flood victims, and the amount had already been handed over to the BISP. The PM said that disbursement of money would start from Friday.

The PM said Rs15 billion had been given to the Sindh government separately, and it was now their responsibility to work with the Pakistan Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to use the amount for helping the flood victims.

The PM, along with Bilawal Bhutto and the Sindh CM, distributed cheques among the rain affectees also. According to official sources, the continuing spell of rains caused nine more deaths in Kandhkot and Tando Allahyar and injured dozens of others. The Pakistan Meteorological Department recorded 340mm rain in Padedan town of Naushehro Feroze district on Friday, which is the highest amount of rain in a day during the ongoing monsoon season.

According to the PMD, Shaheed Benazirabad received 146mm, Larkana 126mm, Sukkur 125mm, Jacobabad 93mm, Khairpur 91mm, Sanghar 81mm, Dadu 69mm, and Hyderabad’s Tando Jam town 30mm.

A 200-foot rupture appeared in the Qadirpur Shank embankment in Ghotki district, inundating hundreds of villages. The local people claimed that the water from the breach is likely to spread to eight to 10 villages.

Five children drowned in rainwater developed lake in Tando Allahyar district on Friday, but three of them were rescued. Anas Kashmiri, 10, and Zaib Kashmiri, 12, were, however, fished out out dead.

Three houses collapsed in Mehar taluka of Dadu district killing a woman and two men. A woman and her two sons lost their lives when the roof of their house collapsed in Larkana. Other incidents of collapse of houses, roofs and walls claimed the lives of three siblings in Darya Khan Mari village in Nawabshah, a man and his son in Tharu Shah, a man and child in village Waris Dino Maachi in Larkana, a woman in Rato Dero and a girl in Thull town of Jacobabad.

A minaret of a mosque fell on the ground, leaving 10 persons injured in a locality of Naushehro Feroze district. In Sindh’s Khairpur Nathan Shah town, another 200 villages were submerged and more than 300 houses destroyed. Collectively, 466 villages have been affected while more than 1,000 houses destroyed.

Meanwhile, after a month-long battering by hill torrents, the Punjab Revenue Department has declared eight tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan as calamity-hit. Punjab Relief Commissioner Zahid Akhtar Zanan Gondal notified that eight tehsils Dera Ghazi Khan, Taunsa Sharif, Kot Chutha, Koh-i-Sueman, Jampur, Esa Khel in Mianwali and Rajanpur, Rojhan and Jampur suffered havoc and massive destruction.

In Balochistan, after the flood torrents coming from the Bolan River broke the Sabri Dam, over a hundred villages were feared to be submerged. The Jadidabad bridge was again swept away in floodwater, shutting down the Quetta-Taftan National Highway. Many people were trapped on a road in chest-deep floodwater as the floodwater raged through areas around Chaman and entered the offices of Customs and the FIA at the Bab-e-Dosti and a village in the Pak-Afghan border area. Personnel of the armed forces, including Levies, the FC and the Pak Army, are busy with a rescue operation to take stranded people to safety.

Jafarabad, Naseerabad and Sohbatpur received more heavy rains which formed new flood torrents, heaping troubles for the residents.

Meanwhile, situation further worsened in Sanjawi. Tents, food and medicines are in short supply owing to fresh torrential rains and flash floods across the province.

A similar situation emerged in a locality at Kohlu where dozens of houses collapsed and the flood victims were forced out in the open and the administration was seeking help for food and tents.

While the rains lashing Quetta since Wednesday night stopped on Friday, it flooded Harnai where all the nullahs and the rivulets were swollen and the fast currents also swept away one man from Khost Zardalo, confirmed the district administration. The raging floods damaged dozens of houses in Kalat, displacing the families who were forced to await any relief or alternate shelter. Balochistan’s advisor on Interior and head of the PDMA, while confirming the large scale of losses said floods had entered the Wapda grid stations cutting off power to the adjacent regions. Meanwhile, in a late night develpment, the Munda Headworks bridge has broken down besides two of the dam’s Discharge Control sections were sweept away.

The Munda Headworks bridge has been swept away by the rain-triggered flash flood leaving the Charsadda and Nowshera districts at risk of floods due to the increasing pressure of flood water. The bridge’s collapse has disconnected Tehsil Shabqadar and Prang from the district.

The incident took place late at night on Friday at around 11pm. The floodwater has also destroyed half of the Munda Headworks, sweeping away two Discharge Control sections, Deputy Commissioner Nowshera Mir Reza Ozgen tweeted on Saturday. The residents have been advised to leave their homes and go to government-designated camps.

Mehboob Ali from Swat, Zulfiqar Khan from Mansehra and Mushtaq Paracha from Nowshera, Nadeem Shah from Multan also contributed to the story