3 killed as rain, windstorm hit KP

PESHAWAR: Three persons were killed, several others injured and many areas plunged into darkness as a powerful windstorm accompanied by rain devastated parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.

Several districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Peshawar, Mardan, Khyber, Swabi, Nowshera, Swat, Abbottabad, Kohistan, and Haripur, were affected.

One person was killed and four others injured when lightning struck the house of a man named Jehanzaib in the Losar Shang area of Bisham in Shangla district. A young man, identified as Ali Rehman, died on the spot, while four others sustained serious injuries and were immediately shifted to Bisham Hospital for medical treatment. The powerful windstorm also wreaked havoc in Nowshera and surrounding areas, resulting in the death of another man and injuries to several others. The storm caused widespread damage to walls, rooftops and signboards.

Locals said that a dilapidated boundary wall collapsed due to the strong winds in Dubandi area of Jehangira, striking a passerby. The victim, identified as Muhammad Waqas, died on the spot. Upon receiving the report, the rescue team promptly reached the scene, completed the necessary formalities and transported the body to a nearby hospital.

In another incident in the Rahimabad locality of Badrashi, a wall collapsed due to the storm, injuring 29-year-old Anees Akbar. The medical team of Rescue 1122 provided him with first aid at the scene before shifting him to hospital.

The storm also damaged multiple structures, including boundary walls, roof coverings, wall sheets, and commercial signboards.

One child died and four others were injured when the roofs of two houses collapsed due to rain and wind in Manki village of Chhota Lahor in Swabi district. The injured, who included the mother and sister of the deceased child, were taken to Bacha Khan Teaching Hospital.

Similarly, in Baja village, the roof of another house collapsed, injuring a woman and her young son. The storm also caused significant damage to agricultural areas. In Mardan and its surrounding regions, wheat, vegetables and fruit crops were heavily impacted by the hailstorm.

The storm disrupted the power infrastructure across the province, with over 113 feeders tripping, leading to electricity outages in several areas. In addition to agricultural losses, the strong winds and hailstorm damaged roads, uprooted trees, and affected other structures, disrupting daily life.

The upper parts of the Hazara division received heavy downpours and snowfall, blocking the Karakoram Highway (KKH) to all sorts of traffic at two locations in the Lower Kohistan district.