Nine killed as first monsoon spell hits country

JHANG/QUETTA: At least nine people were killed in rain-related incidents as a monsoon spell continued to affect many parts of the country on Wednesday and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the authorities concerned to take precautionary measures.

Seven deaths were reported from Jhang, which witnessed 106 millimetres of rain.

In the first incident, five children – including three sisters Misbah (10), Saima (8) and Sania – and two others, Ziaul Rehman (9) and Saqlain Abbas (7), drowned in a pond filled with rainwater. Two workers died and three others were injured when the roof of a temporary shed caved in near Mochian village on the Shorkot-Multan Road.

The dead were identified as Shan and Hussain. The injured – Irfan, Ramzan and Faisal – were shifted to the THQ Hospital Shorkot.

A gypsy woman, Jannat Bibi, was electrocuted in a makeshift house on the Khumananwala Road, as she tried to switch off a fan.

Torrential rains coupled with thunderstorms flooded streams in upper areas of Balochistan and inundating the Karachi-Khuzdar Road in the Wingo area, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.

Rain with strong windstorm – which started in Bolan, Chaghi, Kohlu, Dera Bugti, Kalat and other upper areas of the province on Tuesday – continued on Wednesday causing flashflood in nullahs and streams and inundating low-lying areas. Many villages in Kohlu areas were inundated due to the heavy rain.

According to Dera Bugti administration, one person Zar Khan was killed and 11 others, including children, as lightning struck the house of Khair Muhammad Nothani Bugti in Pirkoh area.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) imposed emergency and cancelled leaves of its employees in the wake of heavy rains and flashfloods.

The monsoon rains also started lashing the AJK on Tuesday and continued intermittently on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Karachi too received downpour on Wednesday evening after several towns and cities in interior Sindh – Sukkur, Nawabshah, Badin, Thatta and others – were hit by thunderstorm on Tuesday.

And in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, flashflood washed away 1,500-feet of road linking two villages Yarkhoon and Anauch in Mastuj, Chitral, resultantly more than 1,000 families were stranded and would face shortage of food, medicines and other items.

The prime minister directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and all provincial governments to undertake precautionary measures to contain any potential damage caused by the rains.

Nawaz Sharif said the authorities should keep residents of vulnerable areas informed regarding emergency procedures and ensure timely evacuations wherever needed.

On the other hand, the Met Office says rain/thundershowers (with isolated heavy falls) and strong gusty winds are expected at a number of places in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Fata, federal capital, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan in the next 24 hours.

Strong monsoon currents are penetrating the country and likely to continue during next 48 hours.

A fresh westerly wave is also affecting upper parts of the country and may persist during next 36 hours.

 As Jhang received 109mm of rain, the chief amounts of rain recorded in some of the other cities in the last 24 hours was: Noorpurthal 63mm, Sibbi 56mm, Mangla and Lahore (City) 52mm, Sahiwal 49mm, Barkhan 38mm, Khuzdar and Mohenjo-Daro 36mm, Sargodha (City) 33mm, Shorkot 30mm, Toba Tek Singh 29mm.