Rain wreaks havoc in Upper Kohistan

MANSEHRA: Heavy rain and flash floods wreaked havoc in Upper Kohistan as Karakoram Highway was blocked because of the landslide and many link roads, bridges and school buildings were washed away by the flash floods on Wednesday.

“The school buildings were damaged and classrooms inundated. So I declared three-day holidays to remove the rubble and water,” District Education Officer Sharafat Khan.

The Karakoram Highway was blocked early morning by heavy mudslides detached from the nearby mountains at Khushi area.

A passenger coach, which was on its way to Mansehra from Khushi, also came under the heavy mass of the mountains and was buried under it.

Four people onboard remained unhurt as they managed to flee as the boulders started rolling down.

The passengers travelling between Gilgit-Baltistan and the rest of the country remained stranded in the long queues of the vehicles on both sides of the road from early morning to about 4pm when the rescue teams of the Frontier Works Organisation and Wapda cleared the highway.

“The heavy boulders detached from the nearby mountains blocked the KKH to traffic. The road was cleared and the coach buried under the debris was also retrieved,” an official of the FWO told reporters.

The Government Inter-College, the Government High School for Boys, the Government Primary School were damaged by the flash floods in Suo sub-division in the district.

Dozens of roads leading to villages in Dasu, the District Headquarters of Upper Kohistan, were also swept away by the flash floods in Phumblat Nullah.

“The boy’s hostel was destroyed by the flash floods while schools and college buildings were damaged,” Khursheed Khan, the provincial president of Malgari Ustazan told reporters.

He said rainwater accumulated at the buildings of the educational institutions and houses.