At least 18 people were killed and several others injured in rain-related incidents in different areas of Baluchistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday as heavy rains and thunderstorm continued to lash various parts of the country.
Torrential rains across Baluchistan caused enormous losses in terms of life and property during the last 48 hours as at least nine people including women and children lost their lives. Rains lashed a large part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) bringing life to a standstill.
According to MET Office, widespread rain-thundershower is expected during the next 24 hours in these parts of the country: upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat divisions), upper Punjab (Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore divisions), Islamabad, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir with isolated hailstorm.
A large number of people have left their houses and moved to safe areas over the past week as rain lashed Balochistan. Big cracks developed in over two dozen houses in Quetta’s Musa colony because of landslip caused by flash flood and hill torrents.
Several mud-houses were damaged in village Higwani after it was hit by hill torrents. According to sources, the affected families have been shifted to safe places.
A man, his two grandsons and two granddaughters were killed and three others injured when the roof of their house collapsed in village Ajizai Saidaan area of Pishin district.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) shifted several families to government buildings and provided them relief goods, including food and blankets.
Meanwhile the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) put the PDMA on alert and advised it to tackle the emerging situation as efficiently as possible.
The Karakoram Highway was closed to traffic due to landslides. Snowfall was reported in Shangla, Swat and Lowari Top.
Coupled with thunderstorm and hailstorm, a heavy spell of rain hit Sukkur, Rohri, Kandhra, Sangi, Pannu Aqil, Naushahro Feroze, Moro, Darya Khan Marri, Pad Idan, Phul, Tharoshah and several other cities and towns of upper and central Sindh
The heaviest rain – 50 millimetres – in Punjab was recorded in Jhang.
Every year Pakistan is hit by severe weather patterns, which have killed hundreds and wiped out millions of acres of prime farmland in recent years, harming the heavily agrarian economy.
During the rainy season last summer, torrential downpours and flooding killed 81 people and affected almost 300,000 Pakistanis across the country.