Flood washes away 43km Patrak-Kumrat road

PESHAWAR: The devastating flood has washed away the entire 43-kilometre road from Patrak to Kumrat and over 80 houses situated on both sides of the Panjkora River.

It has forced the dwellers to take shelter in safer places in the mountains and asked the government to take emergency steps for their relief and rehabilitation.

Tehsil Chairman Malik Ziaur Rehman told reporters on Saturday the helpless people had been stranded in the mountains saying there was no route to reach them.

He said since all the bridges and roads had been swept away, neither the Rescue 1122 team nor any other volunteers could reach there to help the trapped people.

Malik Ziaur Rehman asked Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to send a team to conduct a survey of the area so that proper food, medicines and other required assistance could be provided to the affected people.

The Patrak Bazaar, Barikot Bazaar, Janekas and all bridges from Sheringal to Kumrat have been washed away. This has disconnected the entire population from the rest of the country.

The local people complained that the government and district administration had left them in the lurch. The district administration officials had no helicopter facility and there was no road where they could provide them relief and assistance.

The flood has also destroyed all water channels and the affected people could not move their injured and ailing relatives to the hospitals.The property of a local journalist, Mohammad Qasim, was destroyed as well.

Talking to The News, he said the provincial government should provide facilities to the district administration so that they could provide the required assistance to the affected people.

A local shopkeeper, Abdul Hadi, said the flood had washed away his property and he could not even save his diary in the shop.