At least 60 lives lost as flash floods wreak havoc across KP: PDMA

At least 60 people died and 16 were injured as flash floods battered various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Friday.

Since late June, monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across the country — especially KP and northern regions — by triggering deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas.

At least 325 people, including 142 children, have died and 743 others have been injured since June 26 in flash floods and torrential rains that have battered several parts of Pakistan, according to daily data from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Bajaur, Battagram and Mansehra were the most-impacted districts in recent flash floods, according to PDMA’s daily situation report seen by Dawn.com.

Eight children were among 18 who died in Bajaur, while another eight were injured. Lightning strikes took the lives of 15 men in Battagram, while 14 deaths and two injuries were reported in Mansehra due to floods.

A roof collapse incident left five dead and four wounded in Lower Dir, while a man was killed and two were injured in a similar case in Shangla. In Swat, flash floods and lightning strikes claimed four lives, the PDMA report added.

In Bajaur earlier today, there were “reports of several people injured in flash floods”, which were caused by a cloudburst (heavy rainfall) in Salarzai tehsil’s Jabrarai village“, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi told Dawn.com.

“Rescue 1122 personnel, with the cooperation of residents, have so far recovered 16 bodies and rescued three injured from the rubble and rainwater,” Faizi confirmed.

The injured were taken to a hospital after receiving immediate medical aid in an ambulance. Disaster management, medical and diving teams were involved in the rescue efforts.

A search and rescue operation was underway under the supervision of Bajaur District Emergency Officer Amjad Khan as seven people remained missing, Faizi said, citing locals.

DEO Amjad Khan and the station house in-charge were personally supervising the operation, the Rescue 1122 official added.

In Battagram, at least 10 people died and 16 others were missing after torrential rains and flash floods wreaked havoc in the district’s Neel Band area, Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Saleem Khan said, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

AC Saleem told the media that five houses were destroyed last night due to a lightning strike in Neel Band village, which is located on the border of Battagram and Mansehra districts.

“So far, 10 bodies have been recovered from the stream at the Shimlai Mandrawali location, while rescue teams from Rescue 1122, police, and local volunteers are engaged in ongoing relief and search operations,” the APP report stated.

Earlier today, AC Saleem told Dawn.com that six men, two women and a girl were among the deceased.

The deluge affected villages located on the border areas of Neel Band, Sarim and Malkal Gali, according to a statement issued by Battagram Rescue 1122 spokesperson Aziz Khan.

“The ongoing rescue efforts are facing challenges due to intermittent rain and a near-total loss of mobile network coverage, severely impacting communication,” the statement explained.

Separately, five people died and four were wounded when the roof of a house in the Suri Pao village of Lower Dir’s Maidan area collapsed due to heavy rain, Faizi said.

Detailing the hurdles, the rescue official said: “The rescue team reached the scene after walking for three hours despite heavy rain, flooded rails, difficult and bad roads.”

Yesterday, over a dozen people were killed as rains and flooding ripped through the country’s northern parts, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

In Muzaffarabad, a massive landslide in Sarli Sacha village hit a home, leaving six members of a family buried and feared dead. Torrential rains claimed the lives of two more women in AJK’s Bagh and Sudhnoti districts.

In GB, flash floods killed at least eight people, with two still missing in the Ghizer district, while also devastating villages in the Khalti, Ishkoman and Yasin areas.

Similarly, a spell of heavy downpour lashed various parts of Abbottabad district yesterday, triggering flash floods that severely disrupted traffic flow and caused damage to infrastructure.

More to follow