The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Sunday declared a rain emergency in Lower and Upper Chitral following flash floods and torrential downpour.
Heavy rain with strong winds and thunderstorms lashed parts of the province on Saturday, triggering landslides and destroying infrastructure.
The rain continued intermittently through the day, resulting in a “large-scale devastation” in the district. The deluge also triggered flash floods in Chitral, which washed away bridges, roads, and livestock.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, several areas of the country are likely to continue to receive rain until July 26.
The notification issued by the Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement Department on Sunday said that the deputy commissioners of both districts had requested for an “emergency” to be declared in order to enable them to “launch immediate rescue and relief activities”.
Therefore, the provincial government declared a rain emergency in the two districts with immediate effect, adding that it would remain in place till August 15 “for provision of relief [and] restoration of damaged communication network and water supply”.
4 people killed in KP
Rescue 1122 District Head Hafeezur Rehman had told Dawn on Saturday that “the fresh rain spell triggered a large-scale devastation” and killed five people.
However, the report issued by KP’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Sunday said that four people had died in rain-related incidents in Mansehra.
The report stated that “road clearance activities” were under way at five places in the Lower Chitral district that had been blocked since yesterday due to flash flooding.
It said that seven houses had been fully damaged during the last 36 hours while 67 houses were partially damaged. It also said that a school building was partially damaged while 47 cattle had perished.
Citing a “very high” flood in Chitral River and the destruction caused by in Lower Chitral, the PDMA said that the “vulnerable communities have been evacuated to safer places and provided [with] food items”.
The report further said that non-food items had been dispatched for the affectees in both Lower and Upper Chitral. Detailing the damages in Upper Chitral, the PDMA stated that eight water supply schemes at different locations were damaged.
Balochistan
Meanwhile, rainfall in Balochistan’s Kacchi district has also led to “very high” flood waters on the Pinjira Causeway, causing traffic to stop, National Highway Authority (NHA) General Manager Agha Inayat said.
He further said that NHA machinery was on stand-by along with the staff, and that traffic will be restored once the water level reduces.
He added that “dumping of material” has been started, which will be pushed towards the causeway once the water level recedes.
Additional input by Abdullah Zehri
from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/r6YqnJ5
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