Heavy rain and thunderstorm hit parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab on Saturday, leaving at least 28 people dead and more than 145 injured.
According to the provincial disaster management authority, 25 people were killed in rain-related incidents in KP’s Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak and Lakki Marwat and 145 were injured. At least 69 houses were partially damaged by the rain.
Details of the losses provided by the PDMA show that 15 people died and 100 were injured in Bannu. It added that 68 houses were partially damaged in the area.
At least five people were killed and 42 others were wounded in the Lakki Marwat district.
In Karak, four people died and one person was injured. In a rain-related incident in Dera Ismail Khan, a child was killed, two people were injured and a house was partially damaged.
A Rescue 1122 official said all stations of the emergency service in KP had been put on high alert to deal with the situation that is unfolding.
KP caretaker Information Minister Barrister Feroze Jamal Shah said in a statement that hospitals in the affected districts had been put on a high alert.
Also, heavy rain and strong winds battered several parts of Punjab such as Sargodha, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Lahore.
In Chan village in the Khushab district, three girls died after a wall of their house collapsed due to torrential rain.
At least 10 people were injured in rain-related incidents in Gujranwala district.
Heavy rains and strong winds also disrupted electricity supply in many areas.
Heavy rain with thunderstorms was also reported from Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Nakyal city and its suburbs.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the loss of lives and properties in rain-related incidents in a telephonic conversation with Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Zahid Akram Durrani, who belongs to Bannu district.
“The people of Lakki Marwat will not be left alone in the hour of trouble,” an official statement quoted the premier as saying.
The prime minister directed the KP chief secretary and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to take urgent measures to deal with the situation.
