Severe weather leaves 48 dead

SEVERE winter weather has struck parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with heavy snowfall, rains and flash floods that left at least 48 people dead, officials said yesterday as authorities struggled to clear and reopen highways and evacuate people to safer places.

In Pakistan, where 30 people were reported killed, much of the damage struck south-western Baluchistan province. Imran Zarkon, chief of provincial disaster management, said 14 died there in the past 24 hours, mainly when roofs collapsed amid heavy snowfall.

Heavy snowfall had forced closures of many highways and some parts in the province were under six inches of snow.

The amount of snow in some Pakistani provincial areas has exceeded the 20-year record, with some places reporting three- to four-foot snow, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

The heavy snow inflicted considerable damage on mud houses prevalent in the region with their roofs collapsing under excessive weight, claiming the lives of 14 people in various areas.

This has disrupted the province’s transportation as trains come and go with considerable delays, an airport in the city of Quetta remains covered in snow, and traffic gets suspended on the Quetta-Chaman highway that links the country with Afghanistan.

Eleven people were killed in eastern Punjab province, battered by heavy rains, and five others died in the Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir, officials with the state-run emergency service said.

The divided Himalayan region has witnessed heavy snow fall in recent days and power cuts have been reported.

Emergency services said they were struggling to provide food and other items to snow-hit areas.

In Afghanistan, at least 18 people, including women and children, died on account of the severe weather, according to provincial officials. Hasibullah Shaikhani, a press officer with the state ministry for disaster management, said most of the highways in Afghanistan were closed due to heavy snowfall and fears of avalanches.

Of the Afghan casualties, eight people were killed in southern Kandahar province, said Bahir Ahamdi, spokesperson for the provincial governor. In western Herat province, seven people died, including five members of the same family, said Abdul Ahad Walizada, spokesperson for the provincial police chief.

Three people were killed in southern Helmand province, said Omar Zwak, spokesperson for the provincial governor.

Residents of the Afghan capital, Kabul, where temperatures dropped to -15º Celsius, abandoned driving and struggled to get to work on snow-covered roads.

Several thousand people were stranded in remote mountainous areas near the Afghan border after highways were blocked by a thick layer of snow, Zarkoon said.

At least seven people were dead in weather-related incidents in different parts of south-eastern Afghanistan since Sunday, said Hasibullah Shaikhani, disaster agency spokesperson.

Flight operations at an international airport in Balochistan’s capital city of Quetta have come to halt, said Ismail Khosa, aviation spokesperson.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal declared a state of emergency in the worse-hit districts and ordered the military to carry out rescue and relief operations, his office said.

The meteorological department in Islamabad forecasts the current weather to continue until next week. |