Flash floods, downpours devour over 408 in KP, Punjab, Kashmir
Pakistan
Flash floods, downpours devour over 408 in KP, Punjab, Kashmir
Over 408 people have fallen prey to the merciless floods and continuous rains lashing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Kashmir making the calamity hard to tackle, Dunya News reported on Friday. Information Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mian Inftikhar Hussain has confirmed that 408 people have been killed in rain-related incidents. Water of Jinnah Barrage has been entered into Hydro Power Project. Lightning claimed 16 lives in Upper Dir. The safety bank of Watta Khel has been broken as floodwater entered River Indus inundating Minawali city, while emergency has been imposed in Dera Ghazi Khan, Taunsa Sharif, Muzaffargarh, Layyah and district Rajanpur. The flood submerged Mohalla Qadirabad, Nur Pura, Ramzan Abad and Mujahid Town including other areas. Many people also died of the snake-bite as snakes are also swept away in the floodwater. A high-flood has been forecast in River Indus as the outflow of Chashma Barrage increased by 7,410,000 cusecs. The safety bank of Mianwali was broken at Wata Khel and Blao Khel villages due to flash floods in River Sindh, pushed up the water in the city, submerging the villages of Qadirabad, Nai Abadi, Wata Khel and Balu Khel. Denizens of Dera Ghazi Khan, Taunsa Sharif, Muzaffargarh, Layyah and district Rajanpur have been evacuated to safer places. The district administration has called the army imposing the emergency in the affected area.As many as 200 houses have been damaged in the yesterdays rain in Taunsa Sharif while 20 villages submerged as heavy rains lashed Rajanpur. The public is furious over delayed and insufficient aid. Reportedly, an avalanche killed as many as 49 people in Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday. As per sources, the locals managed to retrieve some 16 dead bodies on self-help basis while 33 are still trapped. Inclement weather hampered the rescue effort making the rescue teams find it hard to reach the accident site. Flash floods caused by heavy downpours killed 200 people in the province while 100 have been perished in Shangla alone with 800 houses wiped out. The district has also been cut off from rest of the country. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 40 link bridges have been washed away in the rains while thousands of the afectees still await the aid by the government. As per a report by the Provincial Disaster Management, efforts are on to evict the 16,000 people marooned at several places. Thousands of houses have been damaged in Charsadda, Bannu, Kohat, Malakand, DI Khan and Nowshehra. The floodwater damaged ripe crops in a suburban area of Mohib Banda, where the locals scale their roofs and try to salvage their cattle and valuables. Erosion also hit the thoroughfares including the GT Road. The report added that 23 people have been killed in Hazara Division, where the stranded people are desperately waiting for government aid.
