28 die as rain, windstorm hit KP

BANNU/LAKKI MARWAT/KARAK/LAHORE: At least 28 people, including women and children, were killed and another 140 sustained injuries as strong winds coupled with heavy rains played havoc in the three southern KP districts, knocking down boundary walls of several homes.

The strong winds caused deaths and injuries to scores of people in Bannu. Most of the deaths occurred due to roof and wall collapse incidents throughout the Bannu district.

It was reported that about 70 goats and sheep were also killed in the district when walls collapsed due to the strong winds.

A state of emergency was declared in all the hospitals of Bannu to cope with the situation and leaves of doctors and paramedics staff were cancelled and they were directed to join their duties.

Police officials said that three children died in a wall collapse incident in Shehbaz Kakki locality in Bannu.

In Koti Sadat town in Bannu, women and children got trapped under the debris of a mud-house when it collapsed due to heavy rains. The locals launched the rescue activities on a self-help basis to retrieve the victims.

A road was blocked when the portion of a shop collapsed in Bazaar Ahmad Khan in Bannu. The rain coupled with hailstorm also damaged standing crops and orchards in the district.

In Lakki Marwat, a woman and three children were killed and more than 20 sustained injuries in a windstorm in the district, official sources said. They said that a windstorm coupled with rain left a woman and three children dead in Serai Naurang tehsil while over 20 people were injured, who were shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Serai Naurang.

It was reported that power supply to some places in Lakki Marwat district was also disrupted as the heavy winds uprooted trees, which fell on transmission lines.

In Karak, two boys, stated to be brothers, were killed and another sustained injuries in two wall collapse incidents in Takht-i-Nusrati Tehsil.

Reports pouring into district headquarters said that heavy rain and storm played havoc in Tehsil Takht-i-Nusrati and two brothers, identified as Faizan,9, and Wajdan, 4, died when the wall of their house collapsed.

In the Minakhel area of Tehsil Takht-i-Nusrati, another boy identified as Shoraim sustained serious injuries when a wall of their house collapsed due to rain. The bodies and the injured were shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Takht-i-Nusrati.

Also, gusty winds caused power outages in various localities of the provincial capital.

The strong winds and heavy rains also lashed Peshawar. The winds caused a dust storm, which disrupted the routine life and plunged the provincial capital into darkness.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Saturday here expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in rains in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The PM sympathised and condoled with the bereaved families, said PM’s media wing. He directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to ensure steps for relief and rehabilitation in the affected areas. He also ordered for coordination with the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He asked the NDMA to work together with Provincial Disaster Management Authority and Rescue 1122 to ensure complete assistance to the public in affected areas.