Low-lying areas in Peshawar go under rainwater

PESHAWAR: Rainwater flooded low-lying localities as downpour that hit scattered parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also lashed the provincial capital and other areas in Peshawar division on Saturday.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) issued warning for more rain, while the Met Department also predicted more rainfall in scattered parts of the province and adjoining tribal areas.
The provincial capital received 29 millimeter rain due to which sewerages in Khyber Bazaar, Qissa Khwani and other parts of the city swelled with the rainwater causing severe problems for the motorists and pedestrians.
The rainfall on Saturday prompted workers of the Rescue 1122 to rush to the flooded areas and rescue the residents of Wahid Garhi on Charsadda Road, Wazir Colony, Nasir Bagh, Jamil Chowk and Tehkal.
The Rescue 1122 that is on red alert shifted the stranded residents of these areas to safer places.
Mushtaq Ali Shah, director Met Office, said rain hit parts of the province and 106 millimeter downpour was recorded in Dera Ismail Khan while Nowshera received 87 millimeter, Cherat 59, Risalpur 81.
He said that rain fell at scattered places in southern parts and six millimeter rain was recorded in Bannu, while scattered places in Malakand division also received rain including Lower Dir 81, Drosh 43.6mm, Upper Dir, 23mm, Malamjaba, 19mm, Mirkhani, 20.4mm, Chitral 15.6mm, Saidu Sharif, 8mm and Kalam, 7.8mm, while Balakot received 16mm downpour, Kakul, 3mm and Kohat, 34mm.
He predicted thundershower in Malakand, Chitral, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir, Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera, Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Haripur, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Torghar, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan.
He said that isolated rainfall was expected in Fata which may generate flashflood in the rivers, streams and nullahs.
He said there was also risk of landslides in the hilly areas of the province as there are strong indications that the current spell of rain will continue for the next two days.
Meanwhile, Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS) has said that over 700 trained volunteers were immediately mobilised to respond to the emergency after the devastating floods in Chitral district.
“Search and Rescue Team (SART), Disaster Assessment Response Team (DART) and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) were immediately mobilised to respond to the emergency,” the FOCUS Pakistan said in a statement.
Flash flooding had washed away several villages, roads, bridges, causing damage to property, crops and livestock, communication infrastructure and drinking water supply systems.
The communiqué said the teams distributed food items and non-food items including tents, blankets, tarpaulin sheets, family hygiene kits and aqua tab for water purification to 320 families in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Our correspondent in Charsadda adds: Issuing flood warning, the district administration directed the people living on the banks of Kabul and Swat rivers to shift to safer places as the rivers were in high floods.
Assistant Commissioner Noor Wali Khan said that the warning was issued due to rise in the water level in the Kabul and Swat rivers at Charsadda. He said that there was a potential threat of floods due to heavy rains in Swat district and other areas and fast glacier melting.
He said a camp would be set up for the flood affectees at the Sugar Mills ground. He said that the district administration was ready to cope with any emergency situation.
Our correspondent in Dera Ismail Khan adds: The flash flooding triggered by torrential rains destroyed standing crops besides damaging houses in several areas.
The flood also damaged the Rod Kohi system of irrigation and the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC) at several places.
The floods in Rod Loni, Rod Gamal, Rod Sawan, Rod Toya, Rod Lorra, Rod Gad, Rod Walairi, Rod Dagjastan damaged houses and swept away cattle in the foothill plains.
Sources said that water from the Gomal Zam Dam was released after the water level in the dam rose in the old irrigation system, which caused the damage.
The sources said that the floods could damage the CRBC at several other places as well.
The sources said that the government had not taken any steps to repair the damaged portion of the CRBC at the Gara Hayat for the last three days.
However, the administration had diverted the water towards the Indus River at Juma Head.
The floodwater also inundated Dera city and power supply to several areas was disconnected due to tripping of feeders.
Locals said though the waters receded in the city, the floods exposed the inefficiency of the municipal administration.
Hectares of farmland were still under water which would cause millions of rupees loss to the farmers.
Our correspondent in Dir adds: Four persons including two women and a minor girl died, and seven people went missing while five others were injured when a vehicle plunged into stream in Doog Darra area of Upper Dir district.
The police said a vehicle was travelling from Mena Doog to Darmdala area for attending a wedding ceremony when the driver lost control over the vehicle near Doog Payeen and it fell into the stream.
The deceased were identified as Khayam, wife of Muhammad Rahman, Sajida, wife of Shah Yousaf, and seven-year-old Ruqia.
Deputy Commissioner Dr Imran Hamid Sheikh told this correspondent by phone that they had received information about two deaths while seven were still missing in the incident, for which rescue operation was underway.
After the incident, announcements were made from mosques in the nearby villages for assistance to rescue the victims. People of Sheringal, Duro, Sharmai and other areas rushed to the River Panjkora as they heard the announcement for rescue work. A local, Sajjad Khan, said they had seen two children near Sheringal who were being swept away by the waves but they were not able to rescue the children because the water flow was high. The injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Dir, wherefrom two critically injured were shifted to the DHQ Hospital Timergara.
A local resident, Baz Muhammad, said that one of the injured people, Ikramul Haq, the driver of the vehicle, had also died. The seven missing people were also feared to be dead.