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Over 50 killed in rain-related accidents in Pakistan

06 September 2012 23:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least 50 people were killed and several others went missing as torrential rains hit parts of east, south, northwest and northeast of Pakistan over the last 24 hours, local media and officials said on Thursday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Heavy rains hit provincial capital Peshawar of the country’s northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its adjoining areas on Thursday, killing at least seven people in roof collapse and injuring several others in various rain-related accidents.

The floodwater inundated houses, washed away cattle heads and affected standing crops over thousands of acre of land in the province. Flooding also submerged main highways and connecting roads in various areas. The provincial and district administration declared a state of emergency in the affected areas and launched rescue activities.

Pakistan-administered Kashmir located at northeast of the country was badly affected by heavy downpour. On Wednesday afternoon, at least 17 people were swept away by flash floods triggered by heavy rains in Muzaffarabad area, later 13 deaths were confirmed by officials.

At least four children were killed as a house caved in due to heavy downpour in the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad.

Rains also hit eastern Pakistani city of Faisalabad, killing at least four people in house collapse.

The Meteorological Department forecasted that widespread rain and thundershowers with isolated heavy falls are expected to continue till Friday across the country especially in Karachi and Peshawar.

This is the second spell of heavy rain that hit various areas of the country. Earlier in the third week of August, at least 40 people were killed by flooding and torrential rains in northwest, northeast and east Pakistan.

Monsoon rains hit Pakistan every year from June and they usually start to retreat during the first week of September. Heavy rainfall in September is quite uncommon due to the weather phenomenon determined by geographical location of the country, however since last two years, the country has observed widespread rainfall in this month including the dry areas like Southern and southeastern cities in Pakistan.

The most destructive flood triggered by torrential rains hit the country in 2010 that hit parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. The flood swept away 20 percent of the land, killed 1, 540 people and injured 2,088. According to UN report, 557,226 houses had been destroyed, and over 6 million people had been displaced because of the flood.

In 2011, flood water killed an estimated 270 civilians in southern Sindh province of the country. At least 5.3 million people were displaced and 1.2 million houses were destroyed.