At least 117 killed in Pakistan after heavy rains trigger deadly landslides
"So far, across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, more than 110 people have died due to cloudbursts, flash floods and roof collapses," PDMA spokesperson Anwar Shehzad told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Another 60 people have been injured, he added. He said Buner, Bajaur, Mansehra and Battagram have been declared disaster-hit districts.
In Bajaur, a tribal district abutting Afghanistan, a crowd amassed around an excavator trawling 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. The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for the 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 Friday after the latest deadly flood to crash through a Himalayan village killed at least 60 people and washed away dozens more.
'Unusual' torrential rains
The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but it also brings destruction. The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as "unusual" by authorities, have killed more than 320 people, nearly half of them children. Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing houses, flash floods and electrocutions.
In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan's 255 million people, recorded 73 percent more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon. Landslides and flash floods are common during the monsoon season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September.
But scientists say climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent. In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed 1,700 people.
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France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Pakistan rescuers recover bodies after monsoon rains kill 320
The majority of deaths, 307, were reported in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said. Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, with the dead including 15 women and 13 children. At least 23 others were injured. The provincial rescue agency told AFP that around 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations in nine affected districts where rain was still hampering efforts. "Heavy rainfall, landslides in several areas, and washed-out roads are causing significant challenges in delivering aid, particularly in transporting heavy machinery and ambulances," Bilal Ahmed Faizi, spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's rescue agency, told AFP. "Due to road closures in most areas, rescue workers are travelling on foot to conduct operations in remote regions," he added. "They are trying to evacuate survivors, but very few people are relocating due to the deaths of their relatives or loved ones being trapped in the debris." The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra and Battagram as disaster-hit areas. The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for Pakistan's northwest for the next few hours, urging people to take "precautionary measures". Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, the national disaster authority said. Another five people, including two pilots, were killed when a local government helicopter crashed due to bad weather during a relief mission on Friday. 'Doomsday' monsoon The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but it also brings destruction. Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September. Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, a representative of the national disaster agency, told AFP that this year's monsoon season began earlier than usual and was expected to end later. "The next 15 days... the intensity of the monsoon will further exacerbate," he said. One resident likened the disaster to "doomsday". "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." In Bajaur, a tribal district abutting Afghanistan, a crowd gathered around an excavator digging through a mud-soaked hill. On Friday, funeral prayers began in a paddock nearby, with people grieving in front of several bodies covered by blankets. The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as "unusual" by authorities, have killed more than 600 people. In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan's 255 million people, recorded 73 percent more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon. Pakistan is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its population is contending with extreme weather events with increasing frequency. Monsoon floods in 2022 submerged a third of the country and killed around 1,700 people. Another villager in Buner told AFP locals kept on searching through the rubble throughout the night. "The entire area is reeling from profound trauma," 32-year-old local schoolteacher Saifullah Khan told AFP. "We still have no clear idea who in this small village is alive and who is dead," he added.
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
At least 225 people killed in monsoon flash floods in Pakistan
Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 225 people in northern Pakistan in the past 48 hours, officials said on Saturday. The majority of the deaths, 211, were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, it said. Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, while 21 others were injured. The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for Pakistan's northwest for the next few hours, urging people to take "precautionary measures". Hundreds of rescue workers are still searching for survivors in Buner, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where torrential rains and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday, said Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency services. Dozens of homes were swept away. 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. 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.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Flash floods in India and Pakistan kill over 280, scores still missing
Flash floods triggered by torrential rains killed over 280 people across India and Pakistan in the past 24 hours, with rescuers searching for at least 80 missing in a remote Himalayan village where cloudbursts devastated a Hindu pilgrimage site. A relief helicopter carrying supplies to flood-hit areas in Pakistan's northwest crashed Friday due to bad weather, killing all five people aboard including two pilots. In India-controlled Kashmir, at least 60 people died and 80 remained missing after flash floods struck the remote village of Chositi, where more than 200 Hindu pilgrims were eating at a community kitchen when floodwaters swept down the mountain. At least 50 seriously injured people were treated in local hospitals, many of them rescued from a stream filled with mud and debris. Disaster management official Mohammed Irshad said the number of missing people could increase. Chositi, in Kashmir's Kishtwar district, is the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 3,000 metres. Officials said the pilgrimage, which began 25 July and was scheduled to end on 5 September, was suspended. Photos and videos on social media show extensive damage with household goods strewn next to damaged vehicles and homes in the village. Authorities made makeshift bridges Friday to help stranded pilgrims cross a muddy water channel and used dozens of earthmovers to shift boulders, uprooted trees and electricity poles and other debris. Kishtwar district is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the region's fragile ecosystem. Hundreds of tourists trapped by floods in Pakistan In northern and northwestern Pakistan, flash floods killed at least 164 people in the past 24 hours, including 78 people who died in the flood-hit Buner district in northwest Pakistan on Friday. Dozens were injured as the deluge destroyed homes in villages in Buner, where authorities declared a state of emergency Friday. Ambulances have transported 56 bodies to local hospitals, according to a government statement. The helicopter that crashed on Friday was on a relief mission when it went down in the northwest, provincial Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said. Rescuers evacuated 1,300 stranded tourists from the mountainous Mansehra district hit by landslides on Thursday. At least 35 people were reported missing in these areas, according to local officials. Rescuers backed by boats and helicopters worked to reach stranded residents. Dozens were still missing and the death toll is likely to rise, Kashif Qayyum said. More than 477 people, mostly women and children, have died in rain-related incidents across the country since 26 June, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. Rescuers evacuated some 1,600 people from mountainous districts in both countries as sudden downpours triggered floods and landslides across the region. Cloudbursts to blame Weather officials forecast more heavy rains and floods in the area. Pakistan's disaster management agency has issued fresh alerts for glacial lake outburst flooding in the north, warning travellers to avoid affected areas. Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions and Pakistan's northern areas, which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, impacting thousands of people in the mountainous regions. Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions. A study released this week by World Weather Attribution, a network of international scientists, found rainfall in Pakistan from 24 June to 23 July was 10% to 15% heavier because of global warming. In 2022, the country's worst monsoon season on record killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated €34.2 billion in damage.
