LAHORE: “Destructive” windstorms that raged across central and northern Pakistan after an intense heatwave have killed at least 14 people and injured over 100 more, officials said Sunday.
Fierce winds, thunder and lightning swept across eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces as well as the capital Islamabad on Saturday afternoon and evening, uprooting trees and downing electric poles.
While the majority of the deaths were caused by collapsing walls and roofs, at least two people died after being hit by solar panels dislodged by the whipping gusts.
One man was killed and three others were injured by lightning strikes.
Mazhar Hussain, a spokesperson for the Punjab provincial disaster management authority, told AFP that such windstorms develop because of excessive heat, which reached above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days.
“There were three to four days in the recent heatwave where temperatures went up quite a lot,” he said, announcing 14 deaths in Punjab and 100 injured.
“This windstorm was particularly destructive. The wind speed was very high. There was so much dust in it that visibility was greatly reduced.”
The Pakistan Meteorological Department predicted more storms on Sunday.
Social media was replete on Saturday evening with videos of the damage the windstorms had unleashed.
A clip filmed inside a plane about to land in Punjab’s city of Lahore showed passengers screaming in terror as the aircraft was tossed about by turbulence.
The plane was later diverted to Karachi.
Other videos show cars crushed by falling trees and roads blocked by debris.
Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, is grappling with increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
Islamabad experienced several usually rare hail storms throughout April and May that damaged vehicles, smashing window panes and shattering solar panels.
Soaring temperatures in April and May are becoming more common in Pakistan, which usually sees summer begin in early June.
Temperatures reached near-record levels in April, as high as 46.5C (115.7F) in parts of Punjab.
Schools in Punjab and Balochistan have announced early summer vacations because of the heat.
At least 14 killed in Pakistan storms after heatwave
https://arab.news/z3cfh
At least 14 killed in Pakistan storms after heatwave
- 14 people were killed and over a hundred injured as a result of windstorms that swept across central and northern Pakistan
- Temperatures reached near record levels in April with schools announcing early summer vacations because of the heat
Thais, Cambodians fear returning home despite border truce, fearing violence
- On the Cambodian side, 35-year-old So Choeun said she expected to give birth within days and hoped to then take her baby home, about 1 kilometer from the border
BANGKOK: At a Thai university-turned-shelter for displaced people, Kanlaya Somjettana is reluctant to go home even after a truce halted weeks of border clashes with Cambodia, fearing the violence may not be over.
She said some people forced to flee the fighting began returning home on Sunday, a day after the ceasefire was announced, but many evacuees on both sides of the border preferred waiting for an official word that it was safe.
Some cited a lack of trust that the neighboring country would respect the truce, after previous ones had been broken.
“I really hope this ceasefire will last long and we can return home,” 21-year-old homemaker Kanlaya said from the university campus in Thailand’s Surin city.
FASTFACT
Officials on both sides said the day-old ceasefire was holding on Sunday, but for most areas, there has been no all-clear notice just yet.
“But I will not go back home as long as authorities do not confirm that it is safe,” she said, adding that the evacuation center was now less crowded, although hundreds remained there.
On the Cambodian side, 35-year-old So Choeun said she expected to give birth within days and hoped to then take her baby home, about 1 kilometer from the border.
But not yet, said the woman sheltering with family under makeshift tents at a Buddhist pagoda in Banteay Meanchey province.
“Despite the ceasefire, we dare not return home yet. We are still frightened,” she said.
“We will wait to see the situation for a few days, if it will stay calm.”
Officials on both sides said the day-old ceasefire was holding on Sunday, but for most areas, there has been no all-clear notice just yet.
The truce follows three weeks of renewed cross-border fighting that killed at least 47 people and displaced more than a million on both sides.
