Four killed as rain wreaks havoc in Quetta

QUETTA: Four people, including two children, were killed and over 20 injured in rain related incidents due to heavy rains on Monday which played havoc in the metropolis.

The city received around 60 millimeter rain within one and half hour time, breaking record of the last several years, an official of the local Met Office said.The torrential rain with hailstorm started lashing Quetta city and suburbs at around 2 pm and continued for one and half hours.

The entire city roads and streets were inundated as flash flood coming from mountains surrounding Quetta valley entered houses, markets, shops, hospitals, government and private buildings.

The official sources said among the four killed were two children identified as Ashraf and Asghar and over 20 others injured in rain related incidents in different localities of the metropolis.

An 11-year-old child fell down in an open manhole of the sewerage system in the Sariab Road area and died, they said adding that two persons were swept away by flash flood in the Kharotabad area.

The entire city was deprived of electricity after several electric transformers reportedly exploded and electricity pylons fell down.The flash flood entered wards of the Sandeman Civil Hospital and one of the boundary walls of the hospital collapsed. All the main city roads including Jinnah Road, Prince Road, Liaquat Bazaar, Qandhari Bazaar, Brewery Road, Spiny Road and others received heavy rains and looked like ponds and streams.

Thousands of vehicles were stuck up in flash floods and hailstorm shattered the windowpanes of the vehicles.People were even forced to stay under shelters as trees and signboards were falling down during torrential rain with hailstorm and windstorm.

According to officials of Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco), two dozen of feeders tripped in the rain.Dozens of mud houses collapsed and damaged in slums and downstream areas of the city. Several parts of the city were deprived of electricity on Tuesday.

The Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti along with Commissioner Quetta Qamber Dashti and Deputy Commissioner Quetta Daud Khilji visited the rain affected areas of the city.He said a rescue operation was underway to drain out the accumulated water from roads and streets and to shift the affected people to safe place.

The sewerage system of the city was choked. However, most of the roads were cleared of rainwater on Tuesday. Hospital sources said that several people injured in rain related incidents have been brought for medical aid. Qesco officials said that they were trying to restore the electricity to the affected areas.