KARAK: Three children were killed and four others of the same family were seriously injured when roof of a room collapsed af ter heavy rain here on Friday as the Provincial Disaster Management Authority issued a high alert for Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara divisions.

The incident occurred in Anar Banda area, said the local people, adding seven members of a family were sleeping in a room when its roof collapsed due to heavy rain.

The house belonged to a mine worker, Khalid Khan.

The people rushed to the house for help after announcements on loudspeakers. The people retrieved bodies of three children of Khalid Khan identified as Maryam Khalid, 12, Muqadas Khalid, 8, and Khalid Umer, 6. Khalid Khan, his wife and two other children identified as Amna Khalid, 10, and Muntakha Khalid, 2, sustained critical injuries. They were shifted to a localhealthcentre andlaterreferredtoa hospital in Peshawar for further treatment. The doctors stated the condition of the injured as serious.

The deceased children were laid to rest in their village. The local people demanded of the government to extend financial help to the family of the poor labourer.

Heavy downpour coupled with hailstorm also played havoc in the district and uprooted electricity polls, trees, disrupting electricity in parts of the district.

Reports reaching to the district headquarters said a swollen seasonal water channel washed away gas pipeline of four inch diameter in Gurguri area, disconnecting gas supply to the region.

The flooded water channel also swept away a camel tied outside the house of a labourer, Said Umer in Bakha Banda area.

Meanwhile, in view of the onset of monsoon PDMA issued a high alert warning to the administrations in three divisions of the province to adopt precautionary measures to cope with any eventuality.

The PDMA said in a statement that heavy downpours were expected on Saturday and Sunday and directed all deputy commissioners to stay alert and take timely measures to respond to the peoplein case of any emergency.

The district administrations were also directed to stock relief goods and distribute them to the people if needed. In this connection, required funds have already been released to the administrations of the respective areas.

The PDMA also said that various rivers of the province were in low to medium flood at different areas after the torrential rain on Friday morning. It said that River Kabul at Warsak with 50,495 cusecs and at Nowshera 86,100 cusecs, Kalpani Nullah at Chowki Risalpur with 30,425 cusecs and Kalpani Nullah at Mardan city Bughdada with 25,433 cusecs were in medium flood.

Indus River at Attock Khairabad with 174,200 cusecs, Panjkora River at Dir 17,281 cusecs, Swat River at Khwazakhela with 18,034 cusecs, Swat River Khiali at Charsadda Road with 7,079 cusecs and Adezai River at Adezai Bridge 38,000 cusecs were in low floods.

In Swabi, flooding in rainy water courses washed away several houses and killed cattle on Friday.

The heavy downpour started in the small hours on Friday and continued unabated till morning, sending the rainy water courses into high flooding, which inundatedstreets and houses in the area.

The water course in Saleem Khan village destroyed the cattle farms and all the animals were washed away by the floodwater. `I could not save a single animal and saw them swept away by the floodwaters one by one,` said Aman Khan. `We lost over 38 buffaloes to the flooding.

In Karnal Sher Khan village, about 15 shops and some houses in the Banzari area were destroyed by the floodwater. The shops were built over the edge of the water course.

In Mardan, the rainwater inundated houses and agriculture lands in Garhi Daulatzai and surrounding areas after the district received the first rain of the monsoon season.

Local people said that rainwater entered houses and flooded streets and fields, incurring heavy losses on the residents.

Meanwhile, former chief minister and provincial president of ANP Ameer Haidar Khan Hoti said that the provincial government should adopt proper measures to avoid losses after the Met department issued a flood warning.

Expressing grief over losses in the flashfloods on Friday, he said the government should put the official machinery at high alert to cope with any emergency.