Men, women and the elderly came out of their houses in a hurry, leaving behind all their belongings back home. Many were seen screaming out of fear, and some giving azans and praying to God to avert the imminent catastrophe of the flood.
“A similar flood from the same mountains had hit our village three years ago and destroyed houses and belongings of local population, this is why everyone is afraid of it,” stated a local resident Hafeezur Rehman.
He said that a decade ago, such floods from the same mountains were rare because of dense forest that would absorb rainwater. However, the deforestation has rendered the ground unable to absorb water, leading it to flow down to villages in the form of floods,” he added.
The damage to houses is not the only problem caused by floods but the main road in Bamboret Valley also becomes its casualty. A similar flood two days ago washed away the lone road that connects Bamboret Valley to the rest of Pakistan, stranding hundreds of tourists in the valley for some days.
Afterwards, the local population take on the responsibility to repair the route working with shovels and other tools manually.
“First we come out to save our homes from floods and later we are also required to repair the road ourselves because the administration takes time to send their staff, excavators, etc here,” said a local elder at the site where youngsters of the area were digging ground and filling a deep ditch to make a temporary road for tourists to leave the area.
However, the administration sent a team for repair of the route later on the second day, though the locals still worked themselves while an excavator from the administration was repairing the route.
Also, the area remains incommunicado due to lack of mobile phone and 4G internet, although work on a telecommunication tower has been started recently.
Bamboret Valley comprises two parts, ie Lower and Upper Bamboret. Overall, it is part of Kelash Valley, along with the other two parts of Rumbur and Barir valleys.
According to statistics of KP’s tourism authorities, Kelash Valley attracted the most numbers of foreign tourists in the year 2022 as many visit the area to witness the culture of Kalasha tribe.