Floods kill 40, creating havoc in cities

Another week of heavy rains throughout Pakistan has brought death and destruction across northern parts of the country. At least 40 people have died in July as a result of landslides and drownings in rain-submerged urban areas. One of the worst cases occurred in the northern Punjabi city of Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad, on 25 July, when the Leh drainage channel overflowed. The seething drain, which runs through the heart of the city, broke its banks and flooded houses on the banks. At least six people died as walls caved in or were swept away by the torrent as residents attempted to retrieve furniture and other belongings. A few days later, two boys drowned in the Kurang Drain, also in Rawalpindi, while trying to save their cattle in the flooded Bilal Town area. Other deaths have been reported in Lahore, Muridke, Sialkot and other cities of the Punjab, as well as in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP). On Thursday, five people were killed in and around the town of Charsadda, 29 km north-east of Peshawar, the provincial capital of (NWFP), as storm drains flooded the area and swept away dozens of houses. Over 100 people have been made homeless and spent Thursday night out in the open, awaiting help from authorities and Pakistan's military. Similar havoc was inflicted on the quake-affected towns of Garhi Habibullah, Gul Dara and Balakot in NWFP’s Mansehra district, as rains and landslides destroyed houses and shelters. Six people, including two women were killed and several went missing after the Kunhar River burst its banks submerging several houses in the area. NWFP Flood Control Authority liaison officer Abdul Wali Yousafzai told IRIN that a "rescue team had succeeded in recovering four bodies", adding that measures to control the floods were being taken, however. In another incident, floods in the Karian area of Mansehra district washed away two women. The monsoon rains and thunder storms that have continued for the past five days over Punjab and NWFP have washed away a part of the Karakorum Highway, that links Pakistan to China. Communications between the northern mountain towns of Gilgit and Hunza were cut off on Thursday, while a power station near Gilgit was reportedly damaged after being struck by lightening. Most of the deaths in major cities, including Lahore and Rawalpindi, have come as houses, often located in 'katchi abadis' (shanty towns) and built with unbaked mud bricks or other substandard material caved in. However, in Lahore there have been at least two incidents in which children drowned in deep pools of water, collected in open spaces. Meanwhile, the military, using boats, have been engaged in rescue operations, while affected residents say, the measures are "too little too late". Muhammad Sadiq, a trader in the Rang Mahal area of Lahore, told IRIN that the scenario reoccurred every year. "People have died, there is water everywhere. Traffic cannot move and traders have suffered huge losses as warehouses are flooded,” he said. KH/AT/AJ/DS