10 die in floods, lightning; UN team due

Torrential rains continued to lash parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, perishing several people in various incidents. Six people were killed by lightening in Sanghar district on Thursday morning.Meantime, directives have been issued to evacuate Jhuddu and Naukot.Floodwater inundated several more areas of Badin including Baghra Memon, Kadhan, Malkani and Ahmed Rajukay with residents forced to take refuge on rooftops.The Army and Navy personnel are busy shifting stranded people, especially from coastal belt to safer places. The district administration has set up 142 relief camps at different points to accommodate more than 40,000 displaced people.A road linking Mirpur Khas and Tharpakar has been closed at Roshanabad.Water is still gushing out of two broken doors of Ranikot Dam, Jamshoro, destroying Sann Railways track, which cut off rail links between Larkana, Dadu, Sehwan, Jamshoro and Karachi.Flooding of saline nullahs of Noushehro Feroz inundated several more villages.Furthermore, torrential rains pulled down two barracks of prisoners and residence of jail superintendent in Sanghar.A 30-foot-wide breach in a stream near Talha Town of Umarkot deluged vast swaths of land.Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Zafar Iqbal Qadir said a United Nations mission would visit the affected areas to make an estimate of the losses caused by floods.Driving rains paralysed life in Sindh, where gastro among other epidemics is playing havoc with the lives of affectees.Spokesperson to the President, Farhatullah Babar said President Zardari directed the chief minister, who accompanied him during the visit to the flooded areas, to personally monitor the situation and ensure that the victims were given relief and properly rehabilitated.