ISLAMABAD(National Times)- A 72-hour spell of monsoon rains and severe thunderstorms has left at least eight people dead and 33 others injured across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while rain-related accidents in Punjab killed two people dead and injured nine others.
The severe weather, forecast by the Met Office for the upper parts of the country from June 11-13, has caused a rolling wave of casualties and damage. The deadly incidents were driven by sudden roof collapses, electrocutions and flash floods.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial death toll steadily climbed to eight, with 33 others injured over the multiday storm system.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority reported seven fatalities and 33 injuries on Saturday after roofs and walls collapsed in the Bannu, Shangla and Mansehra districts.
The dead included four men, two children and one woman, while the injured comprised seven men, 12 women and 14 children.
By Sunday, the provincial toll rose to eight after 17-year-old Mohammad Abid was electrocuted during a storm in the Battal area. Rescuers also recovered the body of a girl swept away by flash floods in the Davli area.
“The rains, accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds, caused widespread damage in Siren Valley, where a boy was electrocuted, and a girl was swept away by flash floods,” Ibrar Ali, district emergency officer for Rescue 1122, told reporters.
Ali said emergency teams launched operations after the storms wreaked havoc on Saturday evening. Rescue and rehabilitation activities continued through the weekend, with teams clearing landslide-blocked roads in the Siren Valley, Garhi Habibullah, Balakot and Kaghan Valley.
While the swollen Siren and Kunhar rivers have started receding, Ali urged tourists and residents to avoid the waterways.
“Visitors coming to enjoy the pleasant weather and picturesque valleys should exercise caution while traveling and avoid going near rivers and streams, as water levels can rise suddenly due to sporadic rainfall in upstream areas,” Ali said.
Meanwhile, in Punjab, the storms claimed two more lives. In Haveli Lakkha, a roof caved in during a thunderstorm Saturday night, burying a family under the debris.
Locals rescued the victims, but a woman, Shamim Bibi, was killed. Two minors were shifted to a rural health center with multiple injuries, where one later died.
Nearby on the Okara-Dipalpur road, a speeding bus overturned while overtaking another vehicle in the wet conditions, injuring seven commuters. Rescue 1122 shifted the victims to the DHQ South city hospital.
Further structural failures injured nine people in Sargodha. A 21-year-old man was seriously injured when an iron roof collapsed in the Faisal Town area. In a separate incident in Bhalwal town’s Chak 9, an eight-member family — including a husband, wife and six children ranging from ages 1 to 12 — were trapped under debris after their roof suddenly gave way.
Rescue 1122 provided immediate medical assistance and evacuated all victims to local hospitals.
