Floods inundate houses, destroy crops in Upper Kohistan

MANSEHRA: The flash floods triggered by the monsoon rains in inundated houses and destroyed standing crops in the far-off Kandia tehsil of Upper Kohistan, the locals said on Sunday.

“The continued rains and flash floods have destroyed many houses and standing crops. And small hydropower stations installed at local streams to supply power to local communities have also been swept away,” Abdul Hafeez, a local, told reporters.

The rains, which started some three days ago, have still been lashing, causing land and mudslides that blocked roads and inundated the slum houses in remote parts of the Hazara division.

The Kandia valley in Upper Kohistan was the worst hit as many houses were inundated but no loss of life was reported anywhere from the entire tehsil.

“Though no loss of life has been reported in the entire tehsil, people suffered financial losses as their houses were destroyed and roads leading to rest of Kohistan have been blocked because of the land and mudslides,” Abdul Hafeez said.

He added that Kandia tehsil having a scattered population was prone to the natural calamities and monsoon rains have always caused devastation.

“The district administration should launch rescue and relief activities in the tehsil so that people affected or displaced because of the flash floods could be shifted to safer places within the tehsil or anywhere else,” Hafeez said. The roads to Dubair and Ranowalia in Lower Kohistan were also blocked to all sorts of traffic following the landslides.