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Reuters

More than 300 people were dead in northwest Pakistan after two days of intense rains and floods, local officials said on Saturday.
Rescue efforts and clearing of blocked roads were ongoing with the release of emergency funds, they said, adding that the heavy rains would continue until Thursday.
Cloud bursts, flash floods, lightning strikes, landslides and the collapse of buildings caused the deadliest spell of this year’s monsoon season.
By early Saturday, 307 were confirmed dead, with more people missing, in the hills and mountains of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.


Pakistan has received higher-than-normal monsoon rainfall this year, which experts link to climate change, triggering floods and mudslides that have killed at least 541 people since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
Not only Pakistan but also parts of neighbouring India and Nepal have been hit hard by heavy rains, flooding and other rain-related incidents over the past week.
Buner district, a three-and-a-half hour drive north from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad in normal times, was among the country’s worst-hit, with 184 killed and widespread damage to infrastructure, crops and orchards, local officials said. Dozens of homes were swept away.

One eyewitness, who escaped the deluges in Buner, described seeing floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders and “tons of rocks” crashing down.
Local police officer Imtiaz Khan, who narrowly escaped the deluges, said floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders struck and flattened homes within minutes.
“A stream near Pir Baba village in Buner swelled without warning. At first, we thought it was a normal flash flood, but when tons of rocks came crashing down with the water, 60 to 70 houses were swept away in moments,” Khan said, adding that many bodies were found mutilated.

“Our police station was washed away too and if we hadn’t climbed to higher ground, we would not have survived.”
Rescuers said they saw large swathes of Pir Baba village destroyed, wrecked homes and giant rocks filling the streets as the water started to recede.
It was not just the floodwater; it was a flood of boulders as well
Sultan Syed, a Pir Baba villager
“It was not just the floodwater; it was a flood of boulders as well, which we saw for the first time in our lives,” said Sultan Syed, 45, who had a broken arm.
Mohammad Khan, 53, said the floods “came so fast that many could not leave their homes”.
Most victims died before reaching the hospital, said Mohammad Tariq, a doctor in Buner. “Many among the dead were children and men, while women were away in the hills collecting firewood and grazing cattle,” he said.
Nearly 300km (186 miles) away in Indian-controlled Kashmir, rescuers scoured the remote village of Chositi in the district of Kishtwar on Saturday, looking for dozens of missing people after it was hit by flash floods two days ago, killing 60 and injuring some 150, about 50 in critical condition.

Thursday’s floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage in the area. Authorities have rescued over 300 people, while some 4,000 pilgrims have been evacuated to safety.
Pakistani officials said rescuers have evacuated more than 3,500 tourists trapped in flood-hit areas across the country since Thursday. Many travellers have ignored government warnings about avoiding vulnerable regions in the north and northwest.
In another area, Shangla, the collapse of the roof of a building due to the downpour caused many of the 34 deaths, provincial Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah said.

Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said that civilian and military teams were carrying out rescue and relief operations, while the prime minister had chaired an emergency meeting.
“Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones, to those who are injured, and many whose homes and livelihoods have been swept away,” Dar said in a statement on social media.
On Friday, a rescue helicopter crashed due to bad weather, killing the five crew members.
Pakistan witnessed its worst-ever monsoon season in 2022. It killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated US$40 billion in damage.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Pakistan

Over 300 killed in 2 days in Pakistan as heavy rain triggers ‘flood of boulders’

A fire engine is sugmerged in floodwaters following heavy rains in Mingora, the main town of Swat Valley in Pakistan on Friday. Photo: AP

Residents walk next to damaged cars stuck to an electric pole following flash floods in Mingora, northwestern Pakistan, on Friday. Photo: AP

Floodwater engulfs houses in one of the worst-hit districts of Buner in Pakistan’s northwest on Friday. Photo: Provincial Disaster Management Authority/AP

Personnel from the Indian Disaster Response team conduct a search-and-rescue operation at the site of a flash flood in a village in the Kishtwar district of India’s Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. Photo: by AFP

Debris of a rescue helicopter that crashed while on the way to deliver relief goods to flood-affected areas in Pakistan’s northwest province on Friday, killing all five people on board. Photo: Xinhua

Climate chaos is threatening Pakistan’s food security. Can it adapt in time?

Homes and fields are seen submerged in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province after the massive, widespread floods of 2022. Photo: AP

Pakistani villagers walk with their livestock in drought-hit Sindh province in 2014. Depending on the year and season, the South Asian nation grapples with both too much water and too little of it. Photo: AFP

People commute along a waterlogged road in Lahore, Pakistan, on Wednesday following torrential monsoon rains that killed hundreds. Photo: EPA

Groceries for sale at a wholesale market in Karachi on July 16. Pakistan’s food culture has long prioritised immediacy over preservation. Photo: EPA

A Pakistani businessman cleans solar panels installed on the roof of his house in the port city of Karachi last month. Photo: AFP

Is climate change turning India’s Himalayas into a disaster zone?

A man looks at a mud-covered house after a cloudburst in Uttarakhand, India, on Monday. Photo: EPA

Vehicles wade through the flooded street after rain in Guwahati, Assam. Photo: dpa

Damaged houses are pictured at the site of a flash flood in a village in Kishtwar district on Friday. Photo: AFP

Pakistan mudslide kills 7 volunteer ‘heroes’ in flood-damaged north

Local residents look a damaged portion of Karakoram Highway following a flash flood triggered by a glacial lake outburst in northern Pakistan on Sunday. Photo: AP

People attend funeral prayer of volunteers who were killed in a massive mudslide when they were repairing a drainage channel damaged by flash floods, in northern Pakistan on Monday. Photo: AP

Deadly flash floods from ‘cloudburst’ in India’s Himalayas kill 4, wipe out town

Muddy water runs past residential buildings following a massive mudslide in India’s Uttarakhand state. Photo: Uttarakhand’s State Disaster Response Force/AFP

Flash floods tore down a mountain valley, appearing to wipe away much of a town in the tourist region of Dharali in Uttarakhand state. Photo: Uttarakhand’s State Disaster Response Force/AFP

34 dead, over 200 missing after sudden rainstorm in Indian Kashmir

Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains in the Chositi area of Indian controlled Kashmir, on Thursday. Photo: AP

Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains in Chasoti town of Kishtwar district, a stopover point on a popular pilgrimage route. Photo: AP

News

Asia

South Asia

Pakistan’s higher-than-normal monsoon rainfall set off floods and mudslides that have killed over 540 people since June 26


Pakistan’s higher-than-normal monsoon rainfall set off floods and mudslides that have killed over 540 people since June 26.


Over 300 killed in 2 days in Pakistan as heavy rain triggers ‘flood of boulders’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Pakistan’s higher-than-normal monsoon rainfall set off floods and mudslides that have killed over 540 people since June 26

Pakistan’s higher-than-normal monsoon rainfall set off floods and mudslides that have killed over 540 people since June 26