Stranded tourists leave Kaghan after temporary pavement constructed

MANSEHRA: Thousands of tourists and local people who remained stranded in Kaghan, and Manor valleys for the last six days, left for destinations Sunday on foot after the Frontier Works Organisation built a temporary pavement at Manor stream in the Mahandri area.The flash floods triggered by the monsoon rains had wreaked havoc in Kaghan and Manor valleys, washing away the central bridge at the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road.

A woman and her son, and around two dozen hotels, houses and electric turbines fixed at Manor Stream were also swept away in the area. “The stranded tourists and locals have started leaving both the valleys on foot following a temporary pavement constructed after fixing mega concrete pipes over Manor stream,” Ali Asghar, a manager of a hotel in Naran, told reporters.

He said that pavement would also be used for crossing vehicles from both valleys to the rest of the country via the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road. “This is a temporary arrangement and if another monsoon spell starts to lash, it might inundate it and that MNJ Road which has been cleared to provide a little relief to stranded visitors after six days would again submerge in stream or would be swept away,” Ali Asghar said.

The district administration warned tourists against visiting the Kaghan till the situation becomes normal in the flood-hit valley.The district administration and National Highway Authority (NHA) are still indecisive about bursting or creating spillways to gush out water from the artificial lake created after Kunhar River flow was intercepted in the Mahandri area following torrents in Manor steam brought with them big boulders.

The administration had already evacuated people from about a dozen shops and hotels fearing floods if a lake burst or water gushed out of it.The traders affected by recent flash floods demanded that the government ensure an early gushing out of water or break the lake.

The district administration, NHA and other relevant departments were still assessing the situation and officials found such an opportunity to clear that lake without causing human and other losses downstream in Manor Valley.

The NHA had already made it clear to the district administration that erecting a steel bridge which could be used permanently too would take from 10 to 15 days to complete if current weather conditions continued in the coming days and weeks.