By DPA
Islamabad : Heavy rain, snow and near-freezing temperatures during the weekend killed at least 11 people across Pakistan, a Pakistani media report said Monday.
Inclement weather, especially at higher elevations in the country’s northern areas, was expected to continue this week, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said on its website.
The Urdu-language Express newspaper reported that six people died due to cold weather in the Sahiwal and Okara districts of Punjab province, where the temperature fell to 7 degrees in mountainous areas.
In Balochistan province, five members of a family died when heavy rains caused the roof of their house to collapse, the newspaper said.
In Pakistan’s high-elevation northern region, many towns were cut off because of avalanches.
In the Leepa valley, some 40,000 people were cut off because avalanches had blocked roads leading out of the area.
In the North-West Frontier Province town of Chitral, commercial flights were suspended after several feet of snow fell in recent days, the Express reported.