- MUZAFFARABAD/GILGIT/BAJAUR: At least 61 people, including women and children, were killed as heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), rescue officials said on Friday.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in KP, in mountainous areas following heavy rainfall, cloudbursts, and flash floods.
The highest number of casualties was reported in Bajaur, where 21 people lost their lives and eight others were injured. In Lower Dir, five people were killed and four injured, while seven deaths were reported from Battagram.
Four people were also killed in Swat and Shangla districts, the PDMA added.
Meanwhile, in Gilgit Baltistan, at least 10 people were killed as a result of landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains.According to GB government spokesperson Faizullah Faraq, three people, including a woman, were killed in Khalthi valley of district Ghizer, where more than half a dozen houses were buried under debris. Three others remain missing, with rescue teams conducting search operations, The News reported.
In Diamer’s Bonar area, a brother and sister were swept away by raging floodwaters, while a child was injured in a landslide on the Babusar road.
Flash floods also ravaged Ghizer’s Yasin Thoi, damaging houses, schools, water tanks and agricultural land. Landslides disrupted travel on the Baltistan and Sadpara roads, while Thor in Diamer reported severe destruction. The Astore valley wasn’t spared either. Floods also damaged agricultural land and roads in the area.
Meanwhile, in Kohistan, floods damaged a bridge on the Karakoram Highway, disrupting traffic between GB and rest of the country.
The GB government has imposed emergency measures in several areas, directing the GB Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA) and Rescue 1122 to remain on high alert. Relief and search operations are under way despite challenging weather conditions. “This is a testing time for Gilgit-Baltistan,” said Faraq. “The government is mobilising all available resources to assist the affected communities.”
In AJK, flash floods and landslides have killed at least eight people and injured two others, according to the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA).
Six members of the same family were killed in a cloudburst in Naseerabad Tehsil of Muzaffarabad, said SDMA.Heavy rains in Bagh district caused rivers to overflow, and high levels of flooding occurred in the Bhimbar drain in Samahni, which swept away a tourist vehicle. However, all the people were rescued.
There was also an extraordinary increase in water flow in Jhelum Valley, Samahni, Hattian Bala and Neelum Valley.
In Muzaffarabad and adjoining areas, more than 30 houses, shops and other properties have been either partially or completely destroyed. Authorities also reported that mobile phone services have been suspended in several upper mountainous regions due to damaged infrastructure.
AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwar ul Haq chaired an emergency meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) on late Thursday and ordered the relocation of residents living along riverbanks to safer places.
During the meeting, the premier also approved financial assistance for rain-affected families and directed that housing be provided to those whose homes were destroyed.
The AJK premier also ordered the establishment of emergency checkpoints to monitor water resources.
The government also announced the closure of public and private schools on August 15 and 16 owing to continued heavy rains and the risk of landslides.
Meanwhile, AJK Information Minister Mazhar Saeed, in a video statement from the tourist spot of Ratti Gali in Neelum Valley, said over 700 tourists, including more than 300 women and children, were stranded after a cloudburst washed away sections of the road.
Due to bad weather, he noted, authorities have stopped tourists from leaving the area and arranged free accommodation with the help of local residents.
The recent monsoon season has wreaked havoc across Pakistan, causing widespread flooding and landslides that claimed over 300 lives nationwide.
Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing houses, flash floods and electrocutions.
In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan’s 255 million people, recorded 73% more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon.
Landslides and flash floods are common during the monsoon season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September. But scientists say climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent.
In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed 1,700 people.
Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its 255 million residents are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.
