KOHISTAN: Many houses, a mini power station, and flours mills were swept away in flash floods in Upper Kohistan’s tehsil Kandian on Sunday. The flooding in the nullah has disconnected access between three villages, including Berti, Jashoi Dangoi, and Daanish.

“The district administration team has already left for the affected areas along with the first aid equipment,” it said in a statement. It has directed the team to conduct a thorough survey to assess all the damage after the relief work.

Kohistan has been hit by rain in the past as well. Lower Kohistan’s Dubair area in 2010 was severely hit by floods when the bazaar and many areas were washed away. There were also reports of casualties.

The Met Office had earlier predicted that strong monsoon currents were likely to penetrate in upper and central parts of the country from July 20 and likely to spread to the other parts of the country from July 21.

More rain and thundershower in Kohistan are expected from July 20 to July 26 under the influence of this weather system.

Damages caused by heavy rain could be lessened if the government constructs dams, Muhammad Javed, a resident of Kandian, told Aaj News.

Around 70km of the road had been swept away in 2010 flash floods.

Another resident Matiur Rehman said that the losses have been huge due to heavy rain but there was no report of deaths in his area.

“The district administration has left for the respective areas,” MNA Afreen Khan, who belongs to Kohistan, said in a statement. “Hopefully, we will cooperate with all the affected families.”

Ahsanul Haq, the Upper Kohistan chief warden of Pakistan Civil Defence, in a video message expressed his sympathy to all the affected families. He directed the team of the respective areas to “immediately” reach there and ensure all kinds of assistance to the victims.

He urged the district administration, provincial government and the PDMA to deliver immediate relief materials to the affected areas of Kohistan and to compensate the losses of all the affected families.