SHANGLA/PESHAWAR: Rains and hailstorms lashed several parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, killing two children in an incident in Shangla district.

The downpour caused a flash flood in the Tangir area of Bisham tehsil on Thursday evening, sweeping away four members of a family.

Family head Gul Daraz and his minor son, Shakirullah, were rescued and shifted to the tehsil headquarters hospital for treatment of injuries, according to Bisham assistant commissioner Adnan Khan.

He added that Daraz’s daughter Laiba Bibi, 5, and son Hasnain Shah, 3, weren’t found by night.

However, spokesman for Rescue 1122 Rasool Khan Sharif said the bodies of the two missing children were found on the banks of the Khan Khwar River early on Friday.

Rain, hailstorm lash several parts of KP

He said over 30 rescue workers took part in the search operation.

As the flash flood swept away goods from Daraz’s house, the tehsil administration promised to provide shelter, food, and other essential items to the family.

Heavy rainfall, along with strong winds, thunderstorms, and hailstorms, was also reported in the provincial capital on Friday.

It started raining at around 3:30 p.m. The downpour lashed the city until night. Hailstones blanketed a large part of University Road.

A spokesperson for Rescue 1122 said no damage to public life or property was reported in the capital city.

He said torrential rain disrupted power supply to the city by causing several power feeders to trip.

A spokesman for the Peshawar Electric Supply Company confirmed downpour-induced power outages in Peshawar as well as in the Bannu and Mardan regions and said around 45 power feeders tripped in those areas.

He said heavy rain disrupted power supply to Hayatabad, Taj Abad, Gulbahar, and University Road in Peshawar, and workers of the power utility were striving to restore the supply of electricity to those areas.

“The power supply will be restored soon,” he said.

An official of the Pakistan Metrological Department told Dawn that Peshawar, Khyber, Chitral, Dir, Swat, Kohistan, and parts of Mansehra and Kurram districts received heavy rains.

He said that the provincial capital received 13mm of rainfall by 5 p.m. on Friday, but as there was no let-up in the downpour until late evening, the amount of rainfall must be around 20mm.

The official said that rain was likely to fall in the city on Saturday as well.

The metrological department also said that Upper Dir district and Drosh area of Lower Chitral received six millimeters of rain each, while five millimeters of rainfall were reported in Patan, Kakul, and Malam Jabba areas each and four millimeters in Mirkhani area of Lower Chitral district.

It forecast rain coupled with windstorms and thunderstorms in Chitral, Dir, Swat, Kohistan, Shangla, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Haripur, Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Malakand, Bajaur, Peshawar, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak, and Waziristan districts. Snow is likely to fall in the mountains of those areas, according to it.

The metrological department also forecast hailstorms at isolated places and heavy rainfall in Chitral, Dir, Swat, Kohistan, Shangla, Buner, Abbottabad, and Mansehra districts on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2024