At least 64 people died in foods and other rain-related incidents across the country on Monday, as deadly downpours continue to wreak havoc in three of the provinces.
According to reports, heavy downpours have left behind trails of deaths, destruction and widespread devastations in 22 districts of Sindh as 55 more people were killed on Monday. Reports from Sukkur, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Larkana, Qambar, Kashmore, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Dadu, Jamshoro and other districts said that rain-related incidents claimed the lives of 55 people in the above-mentioned districts, mostly in Sukkur and Larkana districts. Most of the people were killed when their houses collapsed and left inmates under the rubble in Sukkur, Dakhan, Radhan, Khairpur, Lakhi Ghulam Shah, Kandhra, Pano Akil and Sobho Dero. Five people were killed and 25 others sustained injuries as the roof of a mosque collapsed when they were offering prayers in a village of Khairpur town. Also, three persons were killed when the roof of a godown fell on those who took shelter there from the marooned areas.
Moreover, houses made of clay, mud and unbaked bricks collapsed after rainwater accumulated in their surroundings could not be drained out even after days. Mostly children and women were victims of such incidents, since they prefer to stay at their dilapidated structures during the light showers. With the deaths of 55 more people, the four-day death toll has risen to 285, while several hundred people injured. People in various inundated areas talking to the media said they were not ready to move to the so-called relief camps, as according to them, no basic facilities were being provided to those who had moved to such camps established by the functionaries of the Sindh government for the flood-hit people.
“It is better to live and die in damaged houses than to face humiliation at relief camps,” said Luqman Brohi, who lost five members of his family in village Jan Mohammad near Dakhan town in Shikarpur district. Over in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, at least two children were buried alive under the debris of a dilapidated roof of their house situated in Bara Kamangara village of Nawagai tehsil due to torrential rains, police said. Rescue 1122 Bajaur reported that the roof of a house caved in in the wee hours of Monday, as a result of which two children of Abdul Khaliq were buried under the debris.
Also, a flashflood caused by abnormally heavy rains left seven people killed and 15 injured, besides wreaking havoc with infrastructure in several areas of the Dera Ismail Khan district over the last five days.
The flashfloods and hill torrents hurtling down Koh-e-Suleman mountain range, which was recently lashed by incessant rains, caused damage to nearly 8,500 houses and severely affected 147 villages, mainly in Prova, Daraban and Kulachi tehsils. Sharing details in a video message, Deputy Commissioner Nasrullah Khan said the district administration was mobilising all available resources to extend relief and rescue people in the flood-affected areas of the Dera Ismail Khan, which was ravaged by recent flash floods and torrential rains.
