Rains cause havoc, leaving hundreds stranded and six dead

THE QUETTA/DG KHAN: At least six more deaths were reported on Sunday, four in Lasbela and two in the Punjab district of Dera Ghazi Khan, as a new round of monsoon rains continued to batter parts of Pakistan, particularly Balochistan. Meanwhile, hundreds of people remained stranded after losing their homes to the floods.

The bodies of four unidentified people who were washed away were pulled from the Hub River, which was suffering high floods as a result of severe rainfall in its catchment areas, according to Lasbela DPO Dostain Dashti, who spoke with Dawn. He stated that the Edhi foundation received the bodies. Balochistan now has 194 fatalities after the recovery of four more bodies.

In the meantime, two boys, 13 and 11, drowned when torrents from the Suleman Range mountains in Taunsa, Dera Ghazi Khan attacked their village in Tuman Buzdar. People in the rural areas of DG Khan and Rajanpur had begun relocating to higher ground for protection as a result of the downpour.

Numerous parts of Balochistan were still under water as a result of the flooding, leaving hundreds of people stranded in the districts of Kohlu, Lehri, and Barkhan.

According to officials, heavy rains fell all through Saturday night in Kohlu, flooding much of the area and displacing a large number of residents as floodwater reached many communities and demolished their mud dwellings. Seasonal rivers in Kohlu overflowed, cutting off dozens of communities from the district office and washing away many roadways.

In Nasirabad, heavy rains were continuing for the last eight hours which wreaked havoc in the region and damaged the houses as well. “We are making all out efforts to save the affected people,” Muhammad Hussain, the deputy commissioner of Nasirabad said.

Meanwhile, the road link between Balochistan and Sindh through Quetta-Karachi and Khuzdar-Ratodero could not be restored despite a passage of 48 hours after a fresh spell of rainfall washed away big portions of both highways