Pakistan: Part of Karakoram highway washed off in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after spell of heavy rainfall

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], August 1 (ANI): A flood in the Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa washed away a part of the Karakoram Highway on Monday in the evening hours following a heavy rain spell in the country, reported Dawn citing the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Irfanullah Mehsood.

Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
Flooding in the Lachi nullah in the Harban tehsil of Upper Kohistan was the result of significant rains.

A section of the Karakoram Highway was washed away by the flood, leaving “hundreds of passengers,” including families and tourists, stuck on the road, Mehsood added, saying that in addition to a mosque, a police station, a hotel, other houses were damaged as well.

The DC said that it would take “days” to restore the highway because there was no longer any sign of it close to Lachi nullah, reported Dawn.

The Karakoram Highway was becoming increasingly congested, according to the tehsil chairman, and it appeared that there might be a food scarcity in Upper Kohistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

He added that it might take a week or more to restore the portion of the highway that was swept away today.

Earlier on Sunday, flash floods and mudslides triggered by heavy downpours blocked the Karakoram Highway (KKH) at various points in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)’s Gilgit-Baltistan, Dawn reported.

Diamer Deputy Commissioner (DC) Captain (Rtd) Arif Ahmad told Dawn that the KKH was blocked near Goharabad village’s Gandalo area. He added that it was blocked at nine different points within a 1.5-kilometre stretch.

He further said that two cars were damaged after coming in contact with mudslides. However, the passengers in them remained safe and the cars were pulled out of the mudslides.

DC Ahmad stated that over 50 houses had been damaged in the district due to the rain-triggered floods in the past eight days while around 250 kilometres of linked roads and nine vehicles had been damaged, increasing the locals’ misery.