Eight injured as rain and windstorm hit Peshawar

PESHAWAR: At least eight people were injured in Peshawar on Monday after heavy rain and strong winds struck the city, causing roof and wall collapse incidents in several localities, Rescue 1122 said.

In a statement, Rescue 1122 said the incidents took place in Faqir Killay, Pakha Ghulam, Chughalpura, Shah Alam Pul and Yousafabad. Rescue workers shifted the injured to hospital.

The weather system also disrupted electricity supply in the provincial capital. The Peshawar Electric Supply Company said a windstorm caused outages from several of its grid stations. According to the utility, 200 feeders linked to the city’s 12 grid stations tripped because of the storm. Electricity had been restored to 100 feeders, while teams were working to resume supply from 98 others.

Rainwater also accumulated on Kohat Road, leading to prolonged traffic congestion. A resident, Haleem Khan of Kohat Road, said traffic moved slowly from Technical College to Banamari Chowk, while vehicles headed towards Kohat Road faced a traffic jam stretching about a kilometre from Banamari Chowk to Ring Road bridge due to standing rainwater.

Damage reported in Wana and Bajaur

Torrential rain, thunderstorms and strong winds also affected parts of Wana, the headquarters of Lower South Waziristan tribal district. Residents said the storm uprooted at least three poles of the power distribution line, bringing live wires onto the main road and suspending electricity supply to Wana and nearby areas.

Residents said the windstorm damaged houses and commercial buildings across the town, while dozens of rooftop solar panels were destroyed. In Rustam Bazaar, solar panels installed on shops and market buildings were blown away. A boundary wall extending several hundred feet at the girls’ hostel of Jamia Darul Uloom Waziristan in Wana also collapsed during the storm.

Heavy rainfall in Wana tehsil triggered flash flooding in seasonal streams and nullahs, disrupting traffic at places where bridges were either insufficient or absent. Long lines of vehicles were reported in the Tanai, Kach, Kai road surface and Spin areas, where commuters remained stranded for hours until the water level fell.

In Bajaur district, heavy rain with thunderstorms and a windstorm struck for the second straight day on Monday, injuring several people, Rescue 1122, residents and the district administration said. A statement from the deputy commissioner’s office said several of those injured in the day’s windstorm were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Khar and had suffered minor injuries. A district administration team led by Khar subdivision Assistant Commissioner Amirullah Khan Wazir visited the hospital to ensure medical care for the wounded.

The fresh spell of rain in Bajaur was reported at around 4:30pm, hours after similar weather on Sunday evening. Residents and officials said the storm brought down the main tower of the local PTCL exchange in Khar, suspending landline and DSL internet services in the town and adjoining areas. Electricity poles and power lines were also damaged in different parts of the district, including Khar town, while strong winds uprooted large trees and damaged solar panels. Residents further said several link roads in mountainous areas were closed after being submerged by rainwater.

Weather advisory and rainfall data

The Met Office said Peshawar received 10mm of rain over the previous 24 hours. 22mm was recorded in Dir, 16mm in Kakul and 15mm in Pattan.

Earlier in the day, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority alerted district administrations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about a weather system expected to bring scattered rain, windstorms and thundershowers, with isolated heavy falls, from the night of July 6 to July 8 with occasional gaps. The advisory covered Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Malakand, Bajaur, Kohistan, Kolai-Pallas, Battagram, Torghar, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Mardan, Swabi, Khyber, Mohmand, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Kohat, Kurram, Hangu, Orakzai, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, North Waziristan and South Waziristan.

The advisory warned that windstorms and lightning could damage standing crops and weak structures, including electric poles, billboards and solar panels. Landslides were possible in vulnerable areas of Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Battagram, Mansehra, Kohistan and Abbottabad on July 7 and 8, while water flow could rise in local streams and nullahs in those districts during the same period.

Referring to urban centres, the advisory said: "Heavy rains may cause localised urban flooding in Swat, Abbottabad, Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi and Nowshera on July 7 and 8."

Meanwhile, Rescue 1122 and the Bajaur district administration urged residents to take precautionary measures during rain and thunderstorms and to report emergencies to the control room for a timely response.