Houses evacuated due to landslide threat in Mansehra

MANSEHRA: The huge landslides, which had partially blocked the Kunhar River the other day, continued to hit the Mahandri area as district administration evacuated over two dozen houses on Monday.

“Three houses have been damaged and 25 others have been evacuated for the safety of inmates,” Balakot Assistant Commissioner Basharat Bibi told reporters.The huge landslides continued to roll down into the Kunhar River and diverted its watercourse to settlements, bazaars and the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road in the Mahandri area.

The artificial lake created following flash floods in Manor Stream had intercepted Kunhar River’s flow on July 30, causing threats to the nearby settlements, business centres, shops, hotels and Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road.

The artificial lake started eroding the bed of the alpine forest in Lassan Delo village where three houses were damaged and the administration evacuated families of over to dozens. Basharat Bibi said that machines were moved to Kunhar River to divert its watercourse downstream to stop landslides from hitting Lassan Delo village.

The water from the artificial lake and frequent landslides in the Lassan Delo village in the Mahandri area have panicked the residents and the business community.“The Irrigation Department should ensure an early diversion of Kunhar River from landslides prone area,” Mushtaq Khan, former nazim Mahandri told reporters.

He said that though the Irrigation Department was working to divert the watercourse and leakage of water from the artificial lake it would be better if heavy machines owned by a Chinese company executing a local hydropower project should move to divert the watercourse.

The tourism activities came to a halt in Kaghan valley while traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan remained suspended from July 30 to August 13 after the central bridge at Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road at Manor Stream was swept away by flash floods last month.