Flash floods claim five lives in northern Balochistan

QUETTA: Heavy monsoon rains accompanied by flash floods killed five people in the northern part of Balochistan, rescue officials said on Sunday as the Pakistan Meteorological Department warned of similar weather conditions in several parts of the country.

Officials said the northern districts of Balochistan, including Chaman, Qila Abdullah, Harnai and Qila Saifullah, have been particularly hard hit, with torrential rains destroying homes and displacing hundreds as their mud houses were swept away by the floods.

“The link roads in these districts have been washed away by flash floods, cutting off all road connections with the provincial capital, Quetta,” a senior official was quoted as saying by an English daily.

The havoc came a day after Cyclone Asna over the northeast Arabian Sea off the Sindh coast moved further westward about 200km southwest of Karachi, 220km south-southeast of Ormara and 380km southeast of Gwadar.

Cyclone Asna had formed on Friday as a result of widespread rainfalls brought about by a deep depression.

Schools in Karachi were shut, officials said, as heavy rain lashed Pakistan’s largest city. Authorities also sealed off beaches to the public by imposing Section 144.