Disaster feared as flash floods block Kunhar River’s flow

MANSEHRA: The flashfloods which had blocked the flow of Kunhar River turning it into an artificial lake, swept away eight more shops in the Mahandri area in Kaghan Valley on Friday.

The continued rains and cloudbursts brought heavy boulders into the Manor stream, blocking Kunhar River’s flow and creating a lake in the Mahandri area.

“If the district administration fails to clear the waterway in Kunhar by Saturday morning, the lake could burst, triggering more human and financial losses downstream,” Shakeel Jani, a local, said.

The affected people of Manor area also protested against the delay in the reconstruction of central bridge when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief secretary was visiting the area. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry visited the area along with Deputy Commissioner Adnan Khan Bhittani amidst the protest by locals. They raised slogans against the district administration, National Highway Authority and Kaghan Development Authority and demanded that the Pak Army be involved to rebuild the bridge at Manor stream and rescue the families still stranded in the area. “Our families are without food and other necessities since natural calamity hit the area but the government officials have been making a lame excuse of reopening the road for the last four consecutive days,” one of the protesters said.

The chief secretary directed the National Highway Authority and district administration of an early reopening of the MNJ road at the new circuit house here.

“The evacuation of over 85 percent of stranded visitors to their respective destinations has already been made possible and clearing damaged road and electricity infrastructures in the valley is underway,” Bhittani told the chief secretary.

Meanwhile, tourists stranded in Naran, the commercial hub of Kaghan valley, left for their destinations across the country in a convoy of hundreds of vehicles via the Karakoram Highway.

“The district administration had issued a mayday call and warned tourists to leave Naran as more floods and rains could cut off the entire valley in the coming days,” Saifullah Khan Lughmani, a visitor, said.