Dawn Report
March 4, 2025
A biker holding an umbrella during rain in Peshawar on Monday. — APP
PESHAWAR: Heavy rains and snowfall were reported in several parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday.
However, no damage to public life and property was reported.
The provincial capital received heavy rains, which started around midnight and continued until the afternoon, with the Pakistan Meteorological Department recording 19mm of rainfall.
The Peshawar Electric Supply Company said that most of its feeders were affected due to the heavy rains. However, the power utility said the power supply was restored on most of the affected feeders after the rain stopped.
It said its workers were striving to ensure uninterrupted power supply during Iftar.
No damage to public life, property reported
Abbottabad, Thandiani, Nathiagali, Donga Gali, Ayubia and other hilly areas of the Abbottabad district received the heaviest snowfall of the current winter season. Temperatures in Galiyat and Abbottabad dropped below freezing point.
One to two feet of snow fell in Thandiani and upper areas of Galiyat, leaving almost all link roads in Galiyat blocked. The main Abbottabad-Murree Road was closed due to heavy snowfall at different points. However, they’re later cleared by the Galiyat Development Authority.
“The road from Bara Gali to Nathiagali has been cleared to traffic,” said Ahsan Hameed of the GDA.
He said two feet snowfall was reported in Thandiani and one feet in Galiyat region, including Donga Gali, Changla Gali, Ayubia and Bara Gali.
The official said snow-removing machines were used on the road to Ayubia and the one from Barain to Murree, while two machines were working down from Barain to Nathiagali and Bara Gali.
He said snow was also being removed from the main Abbottabad-Murree Road, with all main and link roads already cleared by the GDA and Rescue1122.
Traffic police and staff of 1122 set up information centres to help and guide tourists.
Abbottabad traffic police have closed the road at Harno and Barain points, informing tourists and residents about the weather situation and safety measures.
On the instructions of SSP (traffic) Tariq Mehmood Khan, additional personnel have been deployed at various places in Galiyat to help tourists and local people.
Galiyat police rescued a woman teacher from Middle School Khaira Gali, Jandala, along with her husband and children during heavy snowfall and shifted them to a safe place.
Due to snowfall and severe cold weather, the teacher was trapped in the school along with the little girls who called the police for help. The police moved the schoolteacher along with her family to safety in a mobile van and then allowed them to return to their home.
The Karakoram Highway on Monday remained blocked to all sorts of traffic after a heavy landslide in Kohistan, as a fresh spell of snowfall and rainfall began in the upper parts of the Hazara division.