RAWALPINDI, Jul 18 (APP): Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab Director General Irfan Ali on Friday said that large-scale rescue operations were carried out in the Potohar region on Thursday in the wake of flash floods caused by torrential rain shifting over 1,000 trapped citizens to safe places.
The PDMA DG, in a statement said emergency was imposed in Chakwal, Jhelum and Rawalpindi districts due to heavy rains and cloudburst, where the district administration and military personnel also took full part in the rescue operations.
Some 398 people were rescued in Jhelum, of whom 174 were shifted to a safe place by the district administration, 64 by military personnel and 160 by helicopters, he added.
Similarly, he said, 209 people were trapped in flood water after the cloudburst in Chakwal, who were safely evacuated, out of which 27 citizens were rescued by helicopters.
In Rawalpindi, he added, the district administration evacuated 450 people to safe places.
Irfan Ali urged the citizens to take precautionary measures as the fourth spell of monsoon rains was going to start from July 21.
Meanwhile, the bodies of two persons drowned in rainwater drains in Rawalpindi on Thursday were recovered by Rescue 1122 personnel.
According to a Rescue 1122 spokesperson, 55-year-old Nadeem Shahzad drowned in a drain of Lalazar 2 Lane No. 07 and his body was recovered from Dhalla village on the Adiala Road.
Likewise, the body of 26-year-old Muhammad Mehran was recovered near a private housing society.
The spokesperson said that both the bodies were handed over to their heirs after fulfilling legal formalities.