QUETTA - Thunderstorms followed by torrential rains continued to hit different parts of Balochistan, including Quetta, on Wednesday, causing floods, damaging houses, washing away belongings, killing livestock and ruining standing crops.
A child was killed in Quetta when the wall of a house collapsed while seven people went missing in Gandawa tehsil of Jhal Magsi.
The provincial capital and other areas received heavy rains on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, which inundated various parts of the province. The rains also exposed the planning of the administration to cope with emergency-like conditions.
The rainwater inundated a large number of houses, offices and commercial buildings, forcing the residents of the provincial capital also to spend their nights outside their residences in the holy month of Ramazan.
One child was killed as the wall of a house collapsed in Nawan Killi, a locality in the outskirts of Quetta.
On the other hand, flashfloods not only washed away causeways, bridges and tracks of highways in various areas of the province but also damaged the main gas pipeline in district Bolan, suspending the gas supply to Machh and adjoining areas.
The heavy floods, besides washing away dozens of houses in Mastung, Sibi, Loralai, Jaffarabad, Naseerabad and Jhal Magsi, also damaged standing crops and killed hundreds of cattle.
Sources said that seven people had gone missing in Gandawa tehsil of Jaffarabad district and their family members feared they had drowned in the Molla River. However, their bodied have not so far been recovered.
Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director Attaullah Mengal told this scribe that over 30,000 people in eight districts of the province had become homeless following the heavy rains and floods.
He said that so far they had registered 17 casualties, however, the death toll could go up as some people were missing, adding the PDMA had announced Rs 1 million immediately for each affected district. “The situation is under control and flood-affected people are being provided with tents, food and edibles,” he added.
The members of National Party claimed National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) were making efforts to provide relief to the flood-affected people in the province. They, however, added though they were not fully satisfied with the performance of PDMA, they hoped it would put in more and more efforts to deal with the natural disaster.
Yasmeen Lehri, Haji Fida Hussain Dashti, Haji Wahid Shahwani and other MPAs of the NP, addressing a press conference, said the monsoon torrential rains had hit the entire province while 10 districts, Quetta, Loralai, Jafferabad, Naseerabad, Jhal Magsi, Kech, Sibi, Khuzdar and Mastung, had been hit hardest.
They said infrastructure, livestock and crops had been devastated in these parts of the province, adding PDMA had been making efforts to cope up with the disaster and providing relief goods and rescue services to the affected people.