More than 300 people have died in northwest Pakistan after two days of heavy rains and flash floods, local officials said on Saturday.
The deluge hit the remote mountainous northern part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, with cloud bursts, flash floods, lightning strikes and landslides in the deadliest downpour of this year’s monsoon season.
By Saturday, 307 people had been confirmed dead, with others missing, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
Parts of neighbouring India and Nepal have also been hit hard by heavy rains, flooding and other rain-related incidents over the past week.
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In Bajaur district, close to the Afghan border, Saeedullah said he was asleep in the yard of his home on Thursday night when he was woken by loud thunder.
He rushed to his house where his family was sleeping to find the roof had collapsed. Helped by neighbours, he dug through the debris and found the bodies of his wife and five children.
He said he suspected the house was hit by lightning, with parts of it on fire before the rain came down. He said he buried his family on Friday, with the help of the community.
“There is destruction everywhere, piles of rubble,” the 42-year-old said.
Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the country’s official 1122 rescue service, said he expected the death toll would rise as more bodies are recovered from under the debris of homes.
Buner district, north of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, was the worst-hit, with 184 people confirmed to have died so far.
Mr Faizi said there was a cloud burst in Buner early on Friday creating a torrent of water that swept down to the villages below.
“There was no time for anyone to react,” he said.
Zahid Hussain (62), a resident of Beshonrai village in Buner, said more than 60 people had died in his village and at least 20 others were missing. He said he told his family to flee when he noticed water rising quickly in a stream near his house that later swept towards his front door.
One of his nephews got trapped and broke his leg as the waters rose, he said. Mr Hussain rescued him and took him to a hospital in Buner.
“The floodwater washed away our house in front of our eyes,” he said from the hospital. “Within minutes, we were made homeless.”
More than 30 homes in the village were swept away.
Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said civilian and military teams were carrying out rescue and relief operations, while the prime minister had chaired an emergency meeting.
Provincial chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah said local officials had been dispatched to the flooded areas to supervise relief operations and assess the damage. He said medical camps were being set up for flood victims as well as arrangements to provide food for families who lost their homes.
On Friday, a rescue helicopter crashed, due to bad weather, killing the five crew members.
Zaheer Babar, Pakistan’s chief meteorologist, said the country has seen an increase in the frequency and destructiveness of extreme weather events.
He said heavy rainfall in the mountains meant people in lower-lying areas were not aware of the strength of the downpour until it reached them as a flash flood.
Climate change was one factor, he said, but it was made worse by homes being built next to rivers and streams, while some waterways were constricted by construction activity and garbage dumping, making it harder for the rainfall to disperse. – Reuters
