PESHAWAR — Heavy monsoon rains have claimed 14 lives across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past 48 hours, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
The casualties, which include women and children, were largely caused by roof collapses and flash flooding in the province’s northern districts. Lower Dir, Swat, and Chitral bore the brunt of the damage as torrential downpours turned dry riverbeds into raging torrents, trapping residents in low-lying areas.
The PDMA’s latest situation report confirms that at least 15 homes have been completely destroyed, while dozens more sustained partial damage. Rescue teams are currently working to clear blocked roads in the mountainous regions, where landslides have severed critical supply lines, leaving several remote villages isolated.
“We are stretched thin,” a PDMA field officer told reporters on the scene. “The priority is reaching the families buried under the rubble of collapsed houses, but the continued rain is making heavy machinery movement nearly impossible.”
The provincial government has declared a high alert for the next 72 hours. With the Meteorological Department warning of further cloudbursts, the risk of secondary flooding in the Kabul and Swat rivers remains critical.
For the families in the affected districts, the immediate challenge is survival. Most of the victims were caught off guard when the heavy rains began late Tuesday night. While the government has pledged emergency relief funds, residents in areas like Lower Dir say aid remains slow to arrive.
The monsoon season has historically been volatile for the province, but climate analysts point to an increasing frequency of extreme weather events in the region. As the rain continues to lash the northern plains, the death toll is expected to rise as search and rescue operations push further into the debris-strewn valleys.
