Dam in Musa Khel swept away following torrential rains
As many as 19 people were drowned in flash floods in Musa Khel in Balochistan and Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab while the rescuers fished out nine dead bodies.
A dam in Musa Khel was swept away following the torrential rains on Monday. As a result, 12 people drowned in the floodwaters. The rescue officials took out four bodies while the search for 8 others was underway.
While confirming the news, Deputy Commissioner Yasir Iqbal Dashti said that hundreds of houses collapsed during the recent spell of heavy rains.
According to official data, the death toll in Balochistan has reached 194.
In Punjab, seven people were swept away in the hill torrent from Koh-e-Suleman in Tuman Qaisarani in Dera Ghazi Khan. So far, five dead bodies have been fished out. The rescuers have saved one person while another is still missing. A woman died due to land sliding in the area.
Dera Ghazi Khan has been cut off from the rest of the country due to hill torrents from the Suleman Range mountains.
In Balochistan, the nullahs and streams in Kohlu, Barkhan, Dera Bugti, Jhal Magsi and Jafarabad have overflown threatening flooding of the areas. River Nari and River Tili are facing medium flood.
Floods have wreaked havoc on villages in Balochistan and southern Punjab, leaving the flood-hit people trapped under the open sky, waiting for some aid from the government.
Meanwhile The National Highway (N-25), also known as the RCD Highway that connects Karachi to Quetta, continued to remain closed for the third straight day on Monday after suffering damage during rains and floods.
Lasbela Deputy Commissioner Murad Kasi told media that a recently established alternate route near the Landa area of Uthal on the National Highway was washed away by floods on Friday, leaving long queues of stranded vehicles over the past three days, including those carrying commercial goods.
Kasi said that the water level in the Landa river had dropped, and thus, restoration work on the road would begin today, following which the road would be operational for traffic.
He added that the National Highway Authority had been directed to expedite and complete the restoration operation soon. The DC also said that relief operations in Lasbela, which were suspended for two days, resumed Monday.
Separately, locals said land connectivity was cut off from the flood-affected area of Lakhra and restoration work for it had begun.
Meanwhile, a report from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said that the death toll in the province since June 1 had reached 196, with 81 injured and 19,762 houses partially or completely damaged.
