More than 300 people killed due to heavy rain, floods in Pakistan
Hundreds have been killed in recent weeks as Pakistan experienced more rain than usual during the current monsoon season, washing away roads and buildings.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Tropical storm turns into Hurricane Erin as it approaches Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands
A tropical storm sped up to become Hurricane Erin mid-morning on Friday, as it approached Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, bringing heavy rains that could cause flooding and landslides on its way to becoming a major Atlantic hurricane. The huge storm was swirling across the Caribbean and is ultimately expected to head towards Florida, picking up speed over warm ocean water, before ultimately veering away from the US mainland. The first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season was rolling west/north-west at 18mph (29km/h) on Friday afternoon, with winds reaching maximum speeds of around 75mph (121km/h), a category 1 hurricane. It is expected to become a major hurricane by Sunday morning. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami reported on X that Erin, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was several hundred miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 70mph. It had been expected to strengthen into a hurricane by Friday early afternoon but reached the designation a little earlier, as it approached the north-east Caribbean, prompting forecasters to warn of possible flooding and landslides, and strengthen into a major category 3 storm late this weekend. The NHC has warned of the storm strengthening into a category 3 hurricane, bringing possible flooding and landslides. Private sector forecaster AccuWeather went further. 'Erin is forecast to explode into a powerful category 4 hurricane as it moves across very warm waters in the open Atlantic. Water temperatures at the surface and hundreds of feet deep are several degrees higher than the historical average,' said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather's lead hurricane expert. Storm watches were issued for Anguilla and Barbuda, St Martin and St Barts, Saba and St Eustatius and St Maarten, with torrential rain forecast to start late Friday in Antigua and Barbuda, the US and British Virgin Islands, and the southern and eastern parts of the US territory of Puerto Rico, east of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Up to 4in (10cm) of rain are expected in the region, with isolated totals of up to 6in, according to the NHC. Forecasters have also warned of dangerous swells. 'There is still uncertainty about what impacts Erin may bring to portions of the Bahamas, the east coast of the United States, and Bermuda in the long range,' NHC said on Friday. Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said to the Associated Press that Erin is forecast to eventually take a sharp turn north-east that would put it on a path between the US and Bermuda. 'The forecasts for next week still keep the future hurricane safely east of the mainland US,' he said. Erin formed from a cluster of showers and thunderstorms that moved off the African coast last week, becoming a tropical rainstorm near the Cabo Verde Islands and dumping up to 8in of rain in five hours. Televisão África reported that at least six people died, with more missing, after flash flooding. AccuWeather predicted Erin would create dangerous surf and rip currents up the US east coast next week, with waves reaching up to 15ft in North Carolina.
Sky News
5 hours ago
- Sky News
Mass funerals held after more than 300 die in floods across India and Pakistan
Why you can trust Sky News More than 300 people have been killed by flash flooding across Pakistan and India-controlled Kashmir, local authorities say. Rescuers began a third day of scouring the mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwestern Pakistan, while others looked for missing people in the Kishtwar district of Indian-controlled Kashmir. Mass funerals were held in Buner, one of the worst-hit areas, where 184 people were reported dead by local officials. Some 93 bodies had been recovered there by Saturday, with many buildings destroyed and crops ruined. A witness described fast-flowing water sending boulders and "tons of rocks" crashing through residential areas. The villages of Pir Baba and Malik Pura were the worst impacted and where most emergency responders were deployed. In Shangla, a collapsed roof killed 34 people, the province's chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah said. Across the border in Indian Kashmir, at least 60 people are believed dead and 150 injured. In Pakistan, medical camps have been set up and shelters established for families who have lost their homes. Rescuers have evacuated more than 1,300 tourists from the mountains in Mansehra district, Bilal Faizi, a provincial emergency service spokesman, said. Rescue helicopter crashes On Friday, a helicopter carrying supplies to the flood-hit northwestern region of Bajaur crashed during bad weather, killing all five people on board. Machinery is being deployed to clear and repair roads, while civilian and military teams continue with rescue operations, Pakistan's deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar said. "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," Mr Dar said in a social media statement. Heavy rain and cloud bursts first triggered the flash floods on Thursday amid an annual Hindu pilgrimage. Initially, 300 people had to be rescued, with a further 4,000 pilgrims taken to safety. The region has suffered multiple floods since July. A study released this week by World Weather Attribution, a network of international scientists, found rainfall in Pakistan between 24 June to 23 July was 10% to 15% heavier because of global warming.
BreakingNews.ie
8 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Pakistan floods leave 220 dead as rescuers pull 63 more bodies from landslides
Rescuers in north-west Pakistan have pulled 63 more bodies from homes flattened by flash floods and landslides, raising the death toll from rain-related incidents to at least 220, officials said. Pakistan has had above-normal rain which experts link to climate change, leading to floods and mudslides that have killed about 541 people since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. Advertisement Hundreds of rescue workers are still searching for survivors in Buner, one of several districts hit in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday, said Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency services. Dozens of homes were swept away. Local residents look at flash flooding in Mingora (Naveed Ali/AP) First responders have been trying to recover bodies in the worst-hit villages of Pir Baba and Malik Pura, where most people died on Friday, according to Kashif Qayyum, a deputy commissioner in Buner. A local police officer, Imtiaz Khan, who narrowly escaped the deluges, said floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders flattened dozens of homes within minutes in Buner. 'A stream near the 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,' he told the Associated Press, adding that many bodies were left mutilated. Advertisement 'Our police station was washed away too, and if we hadn't climbed to higher ground, we would not have survived,' he said. Rescuers said that as water started to recede, they saw large swathes of the village destroyed, wrecked homes and giant rocks filling the streets. Damaged cars trapped in mud (Naveed Ali/AP) 'It was not just the floodwater, it was a flood of boulders as well, which we saw the first time in our lives,' said Sultan Syed, 45, who suffered a broken arm. Mohammad Khan, 53, said the floods 'came so fast that many could not leave their homes', he said. Advertisement Most of the victims died before reaching hospital, said Mohammad Tariq, a doctor at a government hospital in Buner. 'Many among the dead were children and men, while women were away in the hills collecting firewood and grazing cattle,' he said. Mourners attended mass funerals on Saturday as authorities supplied tents and food to people in Buner. According to the provincial disaster management authority, at least 351 people have died in rain-related incidents this week across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan. Rescuers in Chositi village, Kishtwar district, Indian-controlled Kashmir (Channi Anand/AP) Meanwhile, 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 150. Advertisement Thursday's floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage in the area. Authorities have rescued more than 300 people while 4,00 pilgrims have been taken to safety. Such cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions and Pakistan's northern areas, and experts have said climate change is a contributing factor. Pakistani officials said rescuers have evacuated more than 3,500 tourists trapped in flood-hit areas across the country since Thursday. Many tourists have ignored government warnings that urged people to avoid flood-hit regions in the northern and north-western regions, fearing more landslides and flash floods. Advertisement
