MINGORA: Rescued visitors from Kalam, Yasmin and her family received a late-night order to leave their Honeymoon Hotel suite, which overlooks the gorgeous Swat river and its ice-blue waters.
When they were involved in one of Pakistan’s worst calamities, one that has left more than 1,100 dead and a third of the nation swamped by catastrophic flooding, they had just exchanged the humid Lahore summer for the cooler climes of the northeastern mountains.They left their motel in the isolated Kalam valley in the pitch-blackness.
They observed it shatter into the raging waters hours later from the safety of the higher ground.”The motel where we were staying was swamped in water after we heard several loud booms. The noise of the ocean was really loud. Something seemed to have exploded.”
She saw the desperation of a mother who was unable to grasp onto her young child during the panic.
“The boy was screaming, but the torrent of water drowned away his voice. His mother tried to save him but was unsuccessful “Yasmin recalled while having trouble speaking.
The kid was among at least 21 local residents who perished in the floods, mostly as a result of collapsing homes.
After visitors were evacuated to safety by helicopter rescue missions — the only means to access isolated regions shut off by the flooding — accounts of last Thursday night’s terror have begun to surface.
Still stranded are thousands
The Swat River is littered with the remains of demolished bridges, overturned highways, and hotels that are still clinging to the ban
Although the water has subsided, it can take days before road connections to adjacent communities are restored.
According to Junaid Khan, the deputy commissioner for Swat, 200,000 people may have been cut off.More than 600 injured tourists have been evacuated, with women, children, and the sick receiving priority in a military-led operation supported by a provincial government helicopter.
Approximately 3,500 food aid packages have already been delivered; some of them were thrown from the back of a helicopter when people trying to board the aircraft prevented it from landing.
Due to its magnificent mountains, lakes, and rivers, the picturesque Swat Valley—also referred to as the “Pakistani Switzerland”—is a well-liked tourist destination.