A major hotel in Kalam Valley has been swept away by the flood waters which is impacting the region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The hotel was popular among tourists and was located on the Swat River in Kalam Valley.
No casualties have been reported so far as the people were evacuated timely. Other nearby hotels were also requested to evacuate timely to save lives.
As far as the flood situation is concerned, the flood has taken away the lives of thousands of people in the country, causing massive destruction in different areas.
The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also declared a rain emergency in many districts of the province till August 30. Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has also warned of flood levels high to very in the Swat River.
Kalam Valley hotel has been badly damaged by flood water.
The destruction caused by #floods in Swat will open a vacuum for the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan which is already active in the area.
Where the state fails, such groups capitalise on the situation, starting with #floodrelief efforts but ending with something far more sinister. pic.twitter.com/oT6knJWNCK
— Hamza Azhar Salam (@HamzaAzhrSalam) August 26, 2022
Floods Havoc Across Pakistan
Heavy downpours have resulted in a havoc flood situation across Sindh and Balochistan province of Pakistan.
According to Provincial Disaster Management Authority, more than 1.6 million people have been impacted by the devastating flood. Locals have considered it to be for the first time that heavy rain has impacted their lives by displacing their homes.
Generally speaking, some of the traditional reasons behind floods in Pakistan include the rise in sea level. As rising sea level is due to the melting of glaciers worldwide owing to climate change. Another reason is the rising temperature of the ocean. It ultimately causes heavy rainfalls and cyclones.
A research study has examined that the rise in sea level alongside coastal Sindh has resulted in seawater intrusion towards the land.
Intruding sea levels pose some unprecedented challenges to the areas where usually economic activities are centered. Does the question arise that what causes sea intrusion? Sea intrusion occur usually due to thermal expansion, ocean currents, and monsoons.
As warming of seawater causes the topmost layers of the ocean to release heat toward the atmosphere. However, the layers below naturally retain the heat which causes the rise in the temperature of seawater.
It would be not wrong to say that Climate change has a direct impact on the changing patterns of monsoon rains. The way the country has been witnessing the rising sea level, and frequent rains falling alongside devastating floods, all show how Pakistan is vulnerable to climate change.
Apart from the traditional reasons behind floods, some other aspects are also responsible for urban flooding upon which the infrastructural challenges stand above all. Due to poor infrastructure and lack of solid waste management all such factors lead to flooding in different areas across the country.
The situation of flood has portrayed a bleak picture of the fact that the region of Balochistan as well as Sindh is highly neglected in terms of infrastructural development. The marginalization of areas ultimately gives birth to such havoc and paves the way for nature to have massive destruction.
Pakistan being the most vulnerable state in terms of climate change needs to address this concern for protecting the state from devastating floods in the upcoming future.
