A new torrent of waves on Wednesday halted repair efforts on the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in Hunza’s Gulmit Gojal area while thousands of people, including tourists, remained stranded at multiple locations as rehabilitation work is underway across Gilgit-Baltistan following glacial flooding.
The devastating impacts of climate change and melting glaciers have become more visible in GB, which has been facing heavy rains since late June. Thousands of people were stranded after rain-induced floods had blocked roads late last month.
On Sunday, a glacial lake outburst flood (Glof) from the Shishper Glacier tore through Hassanabad Nullah, sweeping away part of KKH and destroying infrastructure.
A statement by Rescue 1122 said today: “The restoration work on KKH has stopped as fresh waves of a flash flood hit Juchar Nullah in Gulmit Gojal in Hunza.”
In a statement earlier today, GB government spokesperson Faizullah Faraq said that rehabilitation work was underway in flood-affected areas across GB.
“Rehabilitation work on KKH is in full swing at Gulmit Gujal. Passengers and vehicles are waiting for the road to be restored on both sides of KKH,” he said, adding that the stranded people were being evacuated through an alternative route of a wooden bridge.
He said that the GB chief minister has directed to speed up the rehabilitation work in Shigar, Ghizer, Hunza, Gilgit, Astore, Diamer, and other areas.
The spokesperson highlighted the impact of climate change-induced disasters on the region, stating, “The rehabilitation work is facing difficulties due to increasing water flow, river erosion and landslides.”
According to the local administration of Hunza’s Gojal area, thousands of passengers, including local and foreign tourists, travelling through this area and China through Khunjerab, remained stranded on both sides as there is no alternative route.
The flood also damaged the optical fibre of mobile and internet services in the area, the administration said, adding, “The increasing water level in the Khunjerab River damaged the electricity transmission near Sost town which caused electricity disruption in areas.”
It also said that heavy machinery was mobilised to restore traffic at KKH.
Separately, a massive flash flood occurred in Juchar Nullah in Hunza’s Gulmit Gojal area after heavy glacial melting on Tuesday evening, according to a statement by Rescue 1122.
The statement said, “The flash flood intensity was high. The flood damaged a bridge and washed away a portion of KKH.”
It said that the flood also swept away thousands of kanals land, trees, irrigation channels, and private and public infrastructure in the Gulmit area.
The statement added that a famous restaurant near KKH, a government-owned tourist facilitation centre and other infrastructures were washed away in the flood.
“The flood destroyed thousands of kanals of forest and fruit trees, orchards, three link roads, three wooden bridges, five irrigation channels, electricity and internet poles,” it added.
Rescue 1122 further said that over 50 locals, who were working on the restoration of water channels, narrowly escaped the flood. “Around 60–70 people repairing water channels narrowly escaped after a last-minute warning from someone who spotted dust clouds racing ahead of the torrent,” it said.
A local named Saeed Jan told Dawn.com that the floods were “unprecedented” as locals never experienced such intense flooding in the nullah. He said, “Floods occurred 20 times in the nullah today with heavy boulders, mud and debris sweeping away everything downstream.”
Earlier this month, cloudburst-induced floods hit Ghizer and Hunza districts, causing widespread destruction to forests, agricultural land, irrigation channels and private properties.
On July 21, heavy rain prompted deadly floods across the Babusar area, causing landslides and damaging infrastructure. So far, 10 deaths have been confirmed across the region, with a dozen tourists missing.