Flash floods, rains leave 50 dead in KP, Fata

[Aslan]

Monsoon rains continued in different parts of the country on Wednesday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, -Reuters Photo


PESHAWAR: Flash floods and torrential rains wreaked havoc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas on Wednesday.

At least 50 people were killed and a large number of houses and bridges were destroyed. Several schools, roads and mosques in northern parts of the province were washed away.

Shangla, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Tank and North Waziristan Agency were the worst affected areas. Large areas were cut off in different parts of the province.

Gas supply from Gurguri oil and gas field in Karak district to Punjab and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was suspended after hill ******** damaged the main transmission line near Yaqobi Kalla, an official of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company said.

Hundreds of houses in low-lying areas were partially damaged. An official of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in Peshawar said that relief goods had been sent to some areas.

He said that 124 houses were completely or partially damaged in southern districts.
The PDMA issued warnings to the administration of all 24 districts in the province to prepare themselves for any emergency.

Officials said that 21 people were killed in rain-related incidents in Shangla district where heavy floods and landsliding damaged dozens of houses. Among the victims were nine members of one family, including women and children.

They died when their house in Daire union council collapsed. Two deaths were reported from Yakh Tangi and four monkey trainers drowned in Banda area.

Flash floods also played havoc in North Waziristan, killing nine people and injuring several others. Houses collapsed and power supply in many areas of was suspended.

Officials said that two people were killed in Tank and two deaths were reported from Karak.

Police said that five children were killed and four others injured when a makeshift shelter collapsed in Badbar area of Peshawar. Rainwater submerged low-lying areas of the provincial capital which got 55 millimetres of showers in 24 hours.

Three people were killed in Khyber Agency and a school building collapsed due to soil erosion. The Swat River is in high flood. Officials reported three deaths in Mingora.

Twenty houses and a primary school were swept away in Bahrain area of Swat. Widespread rainfall also caused devastation in Mansehra and Battagram districts where seven people, three of them women, were killed.

Three people died in Mardan and Charsadda in rain-related incidents. Heavy rains inundated over 200 houses and buildings in Bannu district. Authorities sent three ambulances and medicines to the affected areas.


DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Flash floods, rains leave 50 dead in KP, Fata

 

[GUNNER]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 29, 2010 (AFP) - At least 91 people have died and thousands more have been made homeless as flash floods triggered by torrential rains hit northwest Pakistan, officials said Thursday.

The army has been summoned to tackle the problems caused by the flood waters, which have hit hardest Swat and Malakand districts.

"I can confirm the death of 91 people in the last two days in different areas," senior minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Bashir Ahmad Bilour, told AFP.

More than 60 people were killed in Malakand alone while Swat itself was cut off as heavy rains swept away several bridges and disrupted communications.

"We are facing severe difficulties in the rescue work as rain hampered helicopter flights," Bilour said.

The floods came as the country mourned the death of 152 people in a plane crash. The crash near Islamabad on Tuesday was also caused by bad weather, officials said as investigations continued.

Bilour said more than 30,000 people had been displaced in Peshawar alone."
Provincial planning minister Rahim Dad put the toll at 96. "Latest report is that flash floods have claimed 96 lives," he told AFP.

Most of the dead were killed after houses collapsed on them or drowned in overflowing streams, he said, adding that the waters washed away homes and shops in several areas, he said.

The military said in a statement that it had sent boats to rescue stranded people and army engineers are attemtping to open roads and divert the waters from key routes.

The floods have destroyed thousands of hectares of cultivated land, officials said.
Meteorological office chief Qamar Zaman predicted more rains over the next 24 hours as the monsoon continues, but with less intensity.

Floods unleashed by heavy rains in south and southwestern Pakistan in 2007 claimed more than 200 lives and affected some 1.6 million people.

 

[RescueRanger]

Dr. Sherazi from PDMA needs to be replaced, that man is a walking disaster for this organisation.

 

[mehru]

RIP the dead.
We, here mourning on the death of Air blue accident, didn't realise that tragedy struck other parts of the country as well.

 

[mjnaushad]

The rain is stopped from last 3 or 4 hours.......

But it rained almost 36 hours continuously.......

 

[Dance]

RIP to those that died.

It has never rained that much in Pakistan, theres like floods all over the country