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| 12 more die as rains pile on the agony |
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Monday, August 07, 2006
our correspondents
ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Twelve more people, including 10 of two families, were killed in rain-related incidents in Jamrud of the Khyber Agency, Mirpur in Azad Kashmir and Sanghar in Sindh, while flash floods damaged a bridge in the Charsadda district on Sunday.
Six persons of a family were killed in the Mulaguri area of Jamrud in the Khyber Agency when the dilapidated house of Mulla Khan caved in, killing his wife, four daughters and a son. Khan sustained serious injuries and was removed to a hospital.
In Mardan, a rescue operation to recover the bodies of those who drowned after the Hoti Bridge collapse continued on the second day. Divers have so far recovered 44 bodies from the Kalpani watercourse, while the search is on for scores of others still missing.
Strong currents had swept away more than 100 people when the bridge collapsed on Saturday. Some reports claimed that 60 bodies have so far been recovered from the watercourse and the debris of the bridge. A government official, however, said that the recovery of 44 bodies had been confirmed by the office of the district coordination officer of Mardan.
Divers and rescuers of the district government, the local police and the Army were continuing a hunt for the missing persons. In Charsadda, floods damaged one side of the two-lane Khyali Bridge on the main road linking the provincial metropolis with the district, blocking all kinds of traffic. However, later traffic was diverted to the other lane of the bridge constructed recently.
Thousands of people have been displaced by flash floods in Charsadda alone. The provincial government has set up tent villages to accommodate the affected people. Flash floods have also destroyed standing crops over thousands of acres of land and damaged several houses in Nowshera Kalan.
The Kalpani watercourse in Mardan that had swept away almost half of the city on Saturday was in a medium flood on Sunday, but the level of water was receding. NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Ehsanul Haq, who hails from Mardan, and Federal Minister Amir Muqam paid visits to different parts of the flood-hit district on Sunday.
According to an ISPR press release, Gen Ehsan expressed sympathies over the loss of precious lives in the bridge collapse incident. During his visit to the Mardan city, the general assured the people that the Pakistan Army would provide every kind of assistance to the population of the flood-hit areas.
Army troops, including two special teams of deep-sea divers from the Special Services Group, are actively engaged in rescue operations in Mardan. Earlier, the JCSC chairman was given a detailed briefing by Brigadier Nazir Tiwana on the flood situation in the most affected areas of the NWFP.
In Lahore, intermittent rain continued to lash Lahore on Sunday with the Met Office forecasting similar weather pattern during the next 24 hours.
The rain inundated low-lying roads and some localities. Chauburji, Lake Road, Nisbet Road, Nabha Road, Lakshmi Chowk, Kalima Chowk, Qartba Chowk, Queens Road, Safanwala Chowk, Lytton Road, Sanatnagar, Sanda, GPO Chowk, Shadbagh Gulshan-e-Ravi and Yateem Khana came under rainwater.
Weather experts say water channels are in high flood and Nullah Dek could devastate adjoining areas in Sialkot and Wazirabad, cautioning the authorities to undertake preventive measures.
“Torrents may occur in Balochistan and flash floods in different rivers may sweep away dilapidated constructions,” officials of the Met Office said. Fairly widespread thunderstorms/rains with isolated heavy falls are likely in Sindh and Balochistan. Scattered rain with isolated heavy falls is expected over most of the Punjab and the NWFP, Kashmir along with northeastern and western Balochistan.
Fairly widespread rain may fall in the upper catchments of all major rivers. Scattered rain with isolated heavy falls may also occur in northern and northeastern Punjab along with the Peshawar and Kohat divisions.
The Indus river at Chashma was flooding between 550,000 and 610,000 cusecs, while Chenab at Khanki and Qadirabad were in high flood. The Indus at Tarbela and Kalabagh (between 500,000 and 540,000 cusecs) is also in high flood. The Indus at Taunsa (between 550,000 and 580,000 cusecs) is in high flood, while at Guddu it is flowing in low flood. The River Jhelum at Mangla and the River Chenab at Marala are also in low flood.
On Sunday, Rohri received 37mm rain, Pind Dadan Khan 33mm, Sialkot 34mm, Hyderabad 30mm, DG Khan 27mm, Malam Jabba 18mm, Lahore and Multan 11mm each, Lahore Airport and Saidu Sharif, Sibi and Nawab Shah 4mm each, Dir and Babusar 3mm, Lasbela, Sargodha and MB Din 2mm each, Gilgit, and Jacobabad and Karachi 1mm each.
Fairly widespread thunderstorm/rain with heavy falls has been forecast in the Rawalpindi division. Widespread thunderstorm/rain with heavy falls has been forecast in the Gujranwala division.
Local thunderstorm/rain with isolated heavy falls has been forecast in the Lahore, Sargodha and Faisalabad divisions, while local thunderstorm/rain has been forecast in the Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur divisions.
Agencies add: At least four persons of a family, including three women, were killed while another was injured when a house collapsed in a village near the Islamgarh town in the Mirpur district of AJK due to heavy rains on Sunday.
Deputy Commissioner Mirpur Ghulam Bashir Mughal told APP that the family hailed from the Nowshera district. “The ill-fated family was living here and working as labourers to earn their livelihood,” he said.
Those killed were identified as Zar Muhammad, son of Atta Muhammad, Nasim Bibi, wife of Zar Muhammad, Kulsoom Bibi, daughter of Zar Muhammad, and Tahreer Bibi, wife of Gul Muhammad. A boy, Muhammad Asif of the same family, who suffered injures in the incident, was discharged from hospital after treatment.
The bodies of the victims had been shifted to their native town for burial, the DC said. He said civil defence volunteers as well as all station house officers of the district have been directed to remain alert to meet any untoward situation in their areas.
In the Sanghar district of Sindh, two persons were killed in rain-related incidents as heavy downpour lashed the Khadro town and its surrounding areas. The dead included a woman, Zarina, who died in a wall collapse near the Jamrao Canal Bridge. Another person identified as Punhoon Chang was found dead in Deh-19, Jamrao.
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