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  • News Desk
  • Aug 4th, 2013
  • Comments Off on Rainy season about to cause more widespread damage
Heavy torrential rains and flashfloods on Saturday wreaked havoc in Karachi, claiming the lives of 14 persons, including a woman and children, in separate rains-related incident in various parts of metropolis. Torrential rains also paralysed life in the city of teeming millions, according to a BR reporter from Karachi.

-- 14 killed in Karachi

-- 15 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

-- 5 in Balochistan

-- 2 in AJK

-- At least 36 people were killed after severe rainstorms badly battered KP, Sindh and Balochistan. In Surjani Town, Basharat (20) and Danish (22) while Sunny, son of Rashid, was electrocuted near Bara Maidan, Nazimabad area. An eight-year-old boy experienced a fatal electric shock when he touched an electric appliance at his residence at Paposh Nagar, Nazimabad.

Two minor boys drowned in a Nullah at Korangi No 5 in the limits of Awami Colony police station. Police said their bodies were not recovered yet. An unidentified 50-year-old man electrocuted in F.C. Area, Liquatabad while two more persons received fatal electric shocks at Malir and Korangi No 1-1/2 area. Police said the identities of victims were yet to be ascertained. A four-year-old boy Salman, son of Liaquat, was killed in a roof collapse at Gulzar Hijri in the limits of Saachal police station.

A woman and an eight-year-old boy were drowned in flashfloods in Orangi Town and Banaras areas, respectively. A minor boy drowned in nullah at Shadman Town area. Later, his body was recovered. A roof of CNG station near NIPA Chowrangi caved in, leaving 10 persons injured. Although, the much-awaited rains turned the weather of Karachi pleasant, commuter had to experience severe traffic jams in various parts of city.

KPK, BALOCHISTAN, AJK: Torrential rains in northern parts of the country triggered flashfloods in rivers and nullahs, washing away hundreds of houses and killing dozens of people.Torrential downpour and flash floods played havoc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and claimed at least 15 lives. At least six persons, including a woman, were killed and hundreds of houses were collapsed as flash floods played havoc in Tank after heavy rainfall on the mountainous belt of South Waziristan Agency.

Devastating floods entered different villages of Tank including Pai, Umar Kheil, Nandoor, Ali Kheil, Wanda Zalo, Sobati Kach, and Kot Kat leaving hundreds of houses collapsed. A vehicle carrying twelve persons was swept away by floods near FR Jandola area. Seven persons were rescued while five of them swept away in flood torrents. Moreover, five bodies were recovered from flood channels in the different areas. Their bodies were shifted to DHQ hospital for identification.

Meanwhile, Shoukat Khan, 16, lost his life while rescuing minor children in village Mulazai. Hundreds of people were also reportedly injured in different areas. Traffic was suspended on Tank-Peshawar, Tank-Dera and Tank-Wana roads due to flood water. A joint rescue operation was launched by district administration and Pak-Army in flood affected areas and people were shifted to safe areas.

Flooding nullahs forced people to migrate to safe places. Three kids drowned in Chighor Nullah while another two people were killed in flash floods in Chitral. Flood water from canals in Bara region of Khyber Agency entered Peshawar, damaging dozens of houses in Hayatabad, Nasir Bagh, Charsadda Road and Warsak Road. Chitral River is flowing at high flood level and people are migrating to safe places from the areas under threat of flooding. Two kids were killed in flood-related incidents in Budni area. Army, on the request of the KPK government, has provided four motor boats to evacuate stranded people along Budni Nullah.

Peshawar, Chitral, Charsaddah and Nowshera along with other areas of KP have been hit hard. In Charsadda and other areas of the province, road links and suspension bridges were washed away, leaving thousands of people stranded. Due to overflow in Budni Nullah, the road connecting Peshawar and Charsaddah has been fully covered by water. In Chitral, Bonie Road was badly damaged by flashflood. Over 120 houses and 60 shops have been damaged following rains.

A rescue operation carried out by an Army team and Rescue 1122 staff managed to shift 35 families to a safe place from Warsak area. Life boats are being used to transport population from affected areas to safe locations. Nowshehra was put on high alert amid fears as floodwaters were fast heading towards the city after wreaking havoc in other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to a private TV channel, water flow in Budhni Nullah has receded but traffic is still suspended on Charsadda Road. Moreover, 50,000 cusecs of floodwater is expected to reach Warsak, posing danger to the population on the banks of Kabul River. Flood water washed away a car while crossing a causeway in Bagh district of Azad Kashmir, killing three people while another man was drowned in a nearby village. Two young men drowned in flood water in a village near Rawalakot.

An emergency was declared after a breach in an embankment in Jhal Magsi district of Balochistan. Water level was also surging in River Mola in Jhal Magsi. Deputy Commissioner said that people were being shifted to safer places. In Hub, Balochistan, five people were killed when the roof of their house collapsed due to torrential rains. Meanwhile, bad weather resulted in cancellation of two Islamabad-Skardu flights from Benazir International Airport on Saturday, the second consecutive day.

According to Islamabad Airport enquiry office, the flight PK-451 was to take off from here for Skardu at 5:45am in the morning, while Pk-453 at 10.00am, but due to bad weather both the flights were cancelled. Enraged passengers, strongly protesting against the repeated cancellation of flights, staged sit-in in front of the departure lounge.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2013


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