Over 300 killed in 2 days in Pakistan as heavy rain triggers ‘flood of boulders'
Pakistan after two days of intense rains and floods, local officials said on Saturday.
Advertisement
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.
Residents walk next to damaged cars stuck to an electric pole following flash floods in Mingora, northwestern Pakistan, on Friday. Photo: AP
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
20 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Over 300 killed in 2 days in Pakistan as heavy rain triggers ‘flood of boulders'
More than 300 people were dead in northwest Pakistan after two days of intense rains and floods, local officials said on Saturday. Advertisement 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. Residents walk next to damaged cars stuck to an electric pole following flash floods in Mingora, northwestern Pakistan, on Friday. Photo: AP 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.
RTHK
a day ago
- RTHK
Nearly 200 people die in floods in Pakistan
Nearly 200 people die in floods in Pakistan Residents gather at the site of a damaged bridge on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad. Photo: Reuters Landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains across northern Pakistan have killed at least 199 people in the past 24 hours, national and local officials said on Friday. Of those killed, 180 were recorded in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where one resident likened the disaster to "doomsday". Another nine people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, along with five in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, the National Disaster Management Authority said. Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, with the dead including 19 women and 17 children. At least 28 others were injured. Another five people, including two pilots, were killed when a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government helicopter crashed due to bad weather during a relief mission, the province's chief minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, said in a statement. The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Mansehra and Battagram disaster-hit areas. In Bajaur, a tribal district abutting Afghanistan, a crowd gathered around an excavator digging through a mud-soaked hill, AFP photos showed. Funeral prayers began in a paddock nearby, with people grieving in front of several bodies covered by blankets. "I heard a loud noise as if the mountain was sliding. I rushed outside and saw the entire area shaking, like it was the end of the world," Azizullah, a resident of Buner district, where there have been dozens of deaths and injuries, told AFP. "I thought it was doomsday," he said. "The ground was trembling due to the force of the water, and it felt like death was staring me in the face," said Azizullah who, like many in the region, uses only one name. The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for Pakistan's northwest, urging people to avoid "unnecessary exposure to vulnerable areas". In the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, a region divided with Pakistan, rescuers pulled bodies from mud and rubble on Friday after a flood crashed through a Himalayan village, killing at least 60 people and washing away dozens more. (AFP)
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Pakistan mudslide kills 7 volunteer ‘heroes' in flood-damaged north
A massive mudslide early on Monday killed seven volunteers as they repaired a drainage channel damaged by flash floods in northern Pakistan , officials said, leaving three others injured. Rescuers recovered the bodies after the mudslide hit the town of Danyor in Gilgit-Baltistan at dawn and transported the injured to a hospital, said Faizullah Faraq, a regional government spokesperson. This came a day after a flash flood triggered by a glacial lake outburst damaged the key Karakoram Highway, which passes through Danyor, disrupting traffic and trade between Pakistan and China. Engineers and workers were deployed along with heavy machinery to start repairs, Faraq said on Monday. Meanwhile, several landslides near the damaged mountainous highway left homes damaged in Danyor and nearby areas as first responders evacuated those affected by the floods to safer areas, said Hassan Ali, a local police chief, adding that essential food was being provided to those displaced. Sunday's glacial lake outburst was huge, Ali said, swelling the Hunza river and triggering flash flooding that battered crops. Authorities were still assessing the damage, he said. The region's Chief Minister Gulbar Khan called the seven who died 'heroes who sacrificed their lives for the community' in a statement on Monday.
