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Evacuation orders for two K-P districts as Munda bridge collapses
Death toll from ravaging rain-induced floods reaches 238The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government issued an “emergency evacuation order” for two districts after the Munda Headworks Bridge in Charsadda, which controlled the flow of Swat River, collapsed on Friday night due to devastating rain-induced floods in the province.
According to the “warning” issued by a provincial government official at night, “It’s now certain that Charsadda and Nowshera districts, including surrounding areas, will be flooded in a few hours.
“Residents of the districts have been asked to evacuate their homes to save their lives.”
It added, “All citizens living close to the river, down the flow from that point are warned to ‘evacuate immediately’.”
The K-P government called in the army for help as the death toll rose to 238, including 71 children and 55 women, in the province.
Further, the under-construction 800 megawatts Mohmand dam hydropower project was also hit by the extraordinary Swat River flood situation.
The Mohmand Dam is being constructed on the Swat River about five kilometres upstream of Munda Headworks Bridge in Mohmand district. The total cost of the project is Rs309.6 billion.
According to a statement issued by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), “Floodwater entered the diversion tunnels breaching and over-topping the protection dyke, which adversely affected the project’s construction activities.”
It said that exceptionally high-water flows were expected in the Swat River in the coming hours.
According to details, the government had started construction work on this project with the sole objective of flood control, agriculture development, provision of drinking water to Peshawar and hydropower generation.
The dam is a type of concrete faced rockfill with 213-metre height and its gross storage capacity is 1.293 MAF and 0.676 MAF live storage.
Besides supplementing 160,000 acres of existing land, about 18,237 acres of new land would also be irrigated because of the Mohmand Dam. Annual benefits from it have been estimated at Rs2.23 billion.
In addition, 300 million gallons of water per day will also be provided to Peshawar for drinking purpose with a benefit of Rs957 million.
Mohmand Dam is of immense importance for mitigation of floods, as this is the only project that can save Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera from the devastating floods. Annual benefits in terms of flood mitigation have been estimated at Rs1.467 billion.
The project will provide 2.86 billion units of cheap yet environment-friendly electricity to the national grid every year as well as annual revenue of Rs45.76 billion.
Overall annual benefits of the project stand at Rs51 billion.
The multipurpose Mohmand Dam hydropower project will phenomenally contribute towards water, food and energy security of Pakistan.
Evacuation orders for two K-P districts as Munda bridge collapses | The Express Tribune
Death toll from ravaging rain-induced floods reaches 238
